The New York Herald Newspaper, January 6, 1862, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OPFION N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. cash in advance, Money sent ty mail will Beatthe ef the ‘somdar, “Nona bud Bank vila current tn New Yor’ DAILY BERALD. two centsper copy. enna. WEEKLY ar coors sancregsad tastes ‘Part of Great Britaik, ‘Continent, both te include “ ‘on the It, 1th amd'tla af each thonih sets ‘or $8 75 per annasm B raMiu WEALD, on Wednesday, at four cents per ays pe Te DEI CE, containing important pad for, aa Foruicy Cornmaronpxnts pay REQUESTED TO BBAL ALL Lerrens axp Pace: AGH 'NOTECR taken anonymous correspondence, Wedono eohurn’ eaedeoummunteattonss Volume XXVII. + No. 5 * AMUSEMENTS THI8 EVENING. pene ee Sones WSU ge ames sae Oe WALLACK'S THEATRE, No 84 Broadway.—Loxpox LAURA KEENE’S THBATRE, Broadway.—Lirris Tox— Tn alton a qRONERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Sricxxr's Namoxat BARNUM'S AMERICAN ear ses ond ways Baie te Maceeae ne Mall, @2 Broad ‘ HOOLEY’S MINSTRELS, Stuyvesant Institut Broadway.—Krmiorax Soncs, Dances &¢.* er ‘ peace MELODEON CONCERT HALL, No. Broadway.— Gomes, Daxces, Buniusquzs, opin? Basi ‘ “CANTERBURY MUSIC H. Broadway.—Soni Danozs, Burizsquas, 4c.—Mons. UMEAT, ny GAIETIES CONCERT ROOM, 616 Broadway.—Drawing ‘oom Exreetanixnts, Barcers, Panrommns, Fancuse do. AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, 444 Broadway, uate, FANTOMINER, ho Seantiets ear Sones, Bae ‘ OBYSTAL PALACE CONCERT HALL, Bowery.— Buniusavas, Sosas, Dances, £¢-—kw Vasa Gace PARISIAN CABINET OF WO! Broad - Open dally from 104M. GSE. Bee OO Brondway. ema yELIY MUsIC HALL, 616 Brosdway.—Bumuzsauss, ———————————— Sew York, Monday, January 6, 1862. THE SITUATION. The health of General McClellan is so far re- Wtored that he will be able to take command in the Weld to-day or to-morrow. Information was re- eeived at headquarters yesterday that the rebels m the vicinity of Fairfax were suffering so fear- fully for want of warm clothing that they were ®@ppropriating the clothes of the negroes. Their horses also were dying off for want of food, ell the fodder in the neighborhood having been Consumed. Mrs. Greenhow, the female rebel; has be-n de- tected in carrying on a secret correspondence ‘with the enemy, in spite of the close watch kept pen her house in Washington. It has, therefore, been decided to send her at once to Fort Lafay- ette, where she will have no opportunity of com- Wunicating information to her Southern friends, It has been discovered that several other ladies in Washington are engaged in like treasonable prac- tices, and the probability is that the dismal quar- ters of Fort Lafayette and Fort Warren may, ere flong, be enlivened with the presence of quite a bevy of female traitors. | Our news from Point of Rocks i of a stirring character. A body of six thousand rebels attacked the Fifth Connecticut regiment on Saturday near lancock, and succeeded in destroying the railroad and telegraph lines, cutting off for the time all Connection with Cumberland. The single regiment a our side, who were protecting the railroad, was Rot sufficiently strong to resist a force six times @rester in numbers, and was therefore compelled fo retire across the Potomac, after a short skirmish. General Lander, however, was mov- ing yesterday with a lange force from Point of Rocks to support the Connecticut Wegiment. The rebels were throwing shells at intervals yesterday, but without doing any mischief. The Union artillery was responding. It appeared to be the intention of the rebels to ross the river‘on the ice, but it was not strong enough to make the experiment. General Lande, fs now in a position to resist any attack upon the fines. * Information from Green county, Kentucky, re- presents that a battle there is imminent, as the two Opposing forces of the Union and rebel armies arc fn close jaxtaposition—the rebels with five regi- ments at Cave City, and the Union troops at Mun- @ordasville, these places being only seven miles apart. The abandonment of Big Bethel by the rebels is confirmed by despatches from Fortress Monroc, although it has not been found necessary to oc- eupy that place by ® garrison of Union troops. Upon the arrival of the sconting party of our army the place was found to be wholly deserted. Breastworks extending for nearly a mile, pierced for twelve guns, were erected there by the febels. From our correspondentwat Fortress Monroe and Baltimore we have received further highly interesting intelligence, which We publish to-day, relative to the return of the two hundred and thirty-nine Union prison- ers who have recently been released by the rebels. Bome important information has been elicited from the prisoners relative to the state of affairs at Bichmond and its vicinity. In our Fortress Monroe fetter will be found © correct list of the Union prisoners who have died at Richmond from August to December, together with other valuable facts of © vory interesting character. ‘The extracts published in to-day's Heratp from Sate Southern newspapers will be found unusually interesting. The rebel papers betray great anger fet the surrender of Messrs. Mason snd Slidell to ‘the British authorities, and give vent to their feel- {ngs im very sarcastic and bitter articles. The Richmond Beaminer of the 34 instant has an ex- collent article omthe scheme of the rebel Secre- fury of the Treasury, Mr. Memminger, to pay the in- Gorest (two per cent) due on Confederate bonds out ‘of specie for which he pays forty or fifty per cent. Tho condition of the rebel army is pictured by the rebel papors as almost hopelessly demoralized. Regimental drills have fallen into complete disuse, @trnkenneas fs anid to be prevalent throughout the whole rank and file of the army, which is repre- * a terror and dread to the citizens of the noratly. Tt is altogether evident, from n fs in a DAD way, Goath Sods Lldteded NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 1862. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. We publish to-day some interesting details of the siege of M&tamoros. The news of the intended in. vasion of Mexico by the Spaniards had had the effect of impressing on the rival chieftains, Cara- vajal and Garcia, now desolating Matamoros, the necessity of a united opposition to the foreign foe. Negotiations to this effect were accordingly be- gun, and on the 28th of November a truce was es- tablished by mutual consent. But the ultimatums of the two opposing parties were so irreconcilable that the conference broke up with feelings of increased hostility, Caravajal declaring that he had two peacemakers who would not dif- fer; that he should proceed to argue the dispute with cannon balls and torches, and that he would kill and burn until the city was taken. He faith- fully kept his word as far as he was able; for the same night the torch was applied to numerous buildings, whieh were utterly consumed. We give the names of some of those who have suffered by the conflagration. The relative positions of the two commanders had not been very materially changed at latest advices; but Caravajal was doing everything in his power to surround the city and to force it into submission. Jeff. Davis’ bogus confederacy has already ac- knowledged itself bankrupt. The Secretary of the Treasury has informed Tennessee that the “ gov- ernment’? cannot pay the sum that State has expended for the war. It is rather questionable whether Tennessee herself can pay the amount. Within the past three weeks some of the South. ern cities have suffered from conflagrations to an extent without a parallel. We give below the most disastrous fires, with the dates of their occur- Dec. 12—Charieston. Dec. 17—Greenville, Dec. 22—Nashville, T Jan. 1—Richmond... eC NAR I Hck: He st $3,915,000 Jobn Slidell, one of the released bogus commis” sioners, was terribly sea sick while on board the little tugboat which conveyed the party from Fort Warren to Provincetown. ‘The Virginia rebel Legislature will reassemble to-day in Richmond. The Legislature of Ohio will meet in Columbus to-day. The New York State Legislature meets at Alba- ny to-morrow. The session will probably be an interesting one, as many important measures are to"be introduced. A full list of the members, to- gether with a resume of the business to be brought forward, will be found in to-day’s paper. The total population of Kentucky, as appears by an official report to the Legislature, is 1,155,713, divided as follows :—Whites, 920,077; free colored, 10,146; slaves, 225,490. The number of voters in 1861 was 192,656, of which 16,525 were secession and 176,131 were Union. Jeff. Davis and Brigadier General Jobn C. Breckinridge say the people of Kentucky are “downtrodden.” Jacob M. Howard, who, it was reported yester- day, had received the republican nomination in the Legislature of Michigan for United States Senator, will unquestionably be elected. He will take the seat left vacant by the death of Hon. K.S. Bingham, + and his term will expire in 1865. The Canadians contemplate barricading and for- tifying the great Victoria bridge. In case of war they are fearful that structure would be de- stroyed. Commander Wm. Ronckendorf, of Pennsylvania’ has been appointed to the command of the United States steamship San Jacinto, now at Boston. There were over twelve thousand arrests by the police in Baltimore during the past year. ‘The cotton market was firm on Saturday, with rather amore doing, chiefly with spmners. The sales embraced 800 2.900 bales, in separate lots, on tho basis of 26c. a ‘8c. for middling uplands. The four market was firmor or shipping brands of common and medium grades of Stateand Western, while sales wore moderate. Wheat was firm, with rather more inquiry, with moderate sales at full prices. Corn was unchanged, while holders evinced more firmness. Sales of shipping \ote of Western mixed were made at 64c.aG5c., in store and a‘oat, and 63c. for Jersey yellow. Pork was heavy, with moderate sales, including old and now mess at $12 a $12 50, rew prime at $9 a $9 25, and at $8 50 a $8 75 for old and new do, Sugars were steady and prices unchanged, with sales of 600 hhds. Coffee was quiet, but firm. Freights were firm, with a fair amount of engagemenis, —s_______— Rapid Progress of the Reaction at the South. That a strong reaction has been long going forward at the South no one can doubt who reads the extracts from the Southern papers re“ produced from time to time in the columns of the New York Hexarp. The leading organs of public opinion in New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond and other important cities, which ave the centres of population, intelligence and po- litical influence, are continually filled with mu- tinous and menacing denunciations of the Con- federate government. Jefferson Davis and his subordinates are charged with imbecility and cowardice, corruption, a want of statesmanship, and uiter ignorance of the first principles of mili- tary science. The New Orleans Delta, the Charleston Mercury and the Memphis Appeal have vied with each other in assailing their policy. The Richmond Heaminer recently de- scribed the Confederate government as “a weak reed,” and declared that its members, “from the first day of the revolution to this, have exhibit- od a want of preseience and enterprise, a lack of the larger statesmanship, and an inability to comprehend the nature of the movement they were engaged in.” “Instead ‘of preparing an army which would have achieved their inde- pendence in a month, they relied on the for- bearance of the North, and allowed it to collect its mercenaries. They enlisted volunteers for a year, instead of levying conscripts for the war- They decreed a tariff of fifteen per cent, Without getting a penny of revenue from it, whereas, had they proclaimed free trade, they would have turned all Europe against the United States.” According to a later article in the same journal, which will be found copied in our columns to-day, together with other im- portant extracts from Richmond papers, the project of Mr. Memminger, next in absurdity to this attempt to obtain revenues from a tariff on imaginary importations, to “extract blood from turnips and sunbeams from cucumbers,” is his extraordinary scheme of paying interest on Confederate bonds with specie bought at fifty per cent premium. If there bad been any holders of the bonds outside of the confederacy there might be some sense in paying them the interest in specie; but to squander the precious metals in paying the interest to rebels, when the paper money of the government would do just as well, furnishes irresistible evidence of the marvellous sagacity of the Secretary of the Treasury. It isno wonder, as our contempo- rary adds, that this gasconading, silly, shallow device should “have been made the subject of ridicule by Mr. Seward, and have extorted a horse laugh from Lord Lyons.” How different jt is to play the charlatan tricks of politics in smooth water and to weather the storm in a foaming sea with breakers ahead. .We had supposed that frauds in the army were peculiar to the abolitionists. But it turns out that the secessionists are a match for them.. The Richmond Leaminer exposes similar delin- quencies in the Southern army, and calls public attention to “the loose and fraudulent arrapge- ments of accounts in the Commissary Depart. ment.” The troops are described as in a half starved condition, owing to the swindling of the army officials. The sanitary and general condi- tion of the troops is miserable in the extreme The Richmond Examiner of the 2d inst. says:— “The present condition of our army is a cause of severe and painful anxiety. Demoralization is creeping in, we fully believe, from the insane and reckless neg!ect of the government to sustain and to cultivate the spirit of our soldiery. We are informed as a positive fact that in the ma- jority of the army on the Potomac the practice of regimental drills has fallen into complete disuse!” The troops, we are told, are a prey toennui, with no other occupation than that afforded by greasy cards and filthy yellow color- ed novels. The newspapers are filled with adver- tisements for “substitutes,” and bonuses varying from $200 even to $1,500 are offered. This is accounted for by the fact of the unwillingness of decent men to accept “a life of famine, dirt and vacant i .”” Southern soldiers dis- charged from the hospitals are “committing suicide rather than be constrained to return to the army.” In fine, “the health of the soldiers is neglected;” they are kept in “a dirty, slug- gard condition;” “the rowdyism of officers is passed over;” “half rations of commissaries winked at,” and “the vacancy and idleness of a bane, “ped held out as rewards to volun- teering.” The consequence is, argues our Rich- mond contemporary, that the right kind of men cannot be obtained to fill up the ranks already decimated by disease and death, and soon to be further thinned by the termination ofthe period of enlistment, which is for one year. This last appears to be the greatest source of anxiety to the leaders of the rebellion, and the most exciting and alarming appeals are made by the press and the clergy to induce re-enlist- ment, by painting in the most hideous colors the horrors that await men, women and children should “the Yankee invaders” succeed in sub- jugating the South. The invasions of Goths and Vandals, Huns, Saracens and Turks were merciful compared with the visitations of the more barbarous “Hessians” and “Roundheads” of the North. It had been supposed before that the delay of McClejlan to advance to Rich- mond, notwithstanding the fine, dry weather, and the favorable state of the roads rendering the passage of heavy ordnance perfectly prac- ticable, was caused by waiting for the result of the expeditions against the sea- board, which were expected to draw off large bodies of rebel troops from the Poto- mac, but which have not been attended with that effect, as our latest intelligence informs us the army under Beauregard has been increased, and now numbers one hundred and seventy-five thousand effective men. But the Richmond Dispatch has at last discovered the real cause of the delay. It says McClellan, fearing to meet the Southern army with equal or even superior numbers, is deferring his onward march till the period of enlistment in the South- ern army has expired, and then he will come on like an avalanche. Under these circum- stances the Dispatch isin a state of extreme trepidation lest the Southern troops should not re-enlist. It laments that “the heartless and brutal neglect of civil and military officia!s has put the Southern cause in more peril than all the armed legions of the North; more even than this—the rust of inaction has eaten out some of the bravest spirits.” All these things are causing the deepest despondenvy to the more ardent chiefs of the re- bellion, and inany of hem cannot resist the terri- ble impression that in a brief time the whole struc- ture of the insurrection will collapse and vanish like the baseless febric of a vision. They see a mighty military cordon narrowing around them, and they await with fear and trembling the on. set of McClellan. Their hopes of foreign aid have failed them. -At first, like drowning men catching ai a straw, they exulted in the prospect of a collision between England and the United States, arising out of the affair of the Trent. But the masterly policy of Mr. Lincoln and bis Cabinet bes caused their hearts to sink within them. The Richmond Dispetch first breaks the fall, by announcing that the British Ministry would be compelled, from fear of revolution in Eng- land, to resign or to break up the blockade be- Tore next June. Iniwo days after it comes to the more sensible conclusion that ~ it is not the- design of Providence that the South should owe ils independence to any ageney but ils own ex- ettions.”” Hlow little dependence is to be placed upon the latter may be judged from the condition of the demoralized army, a beggared treasury and an imbecile administration, neither competent to devise a comprehensive system of finance nor to organize or lead armies to victory. The fecling is now becoming general in Vir- ginia that the leaders of the revolution are not sincere, and that they are preparing either to fall back upon the coiton States, and leave Virginia to its fate, or to lay down their armsand sue ‘for mercy, like Georgey in the Hungarian war. In view of some recent events at Rich- mond,-the Examiner of that city observes:— “There is a sombre aspect on many faces, and the belief prevails that if the war is not waged in earnest we are docmed, and that Vir- ginia and all the border States must inevitably be reoceupied by the federal authorities.” But the hope of our contemporary is that “the army will not submit, whatever may be the stipulation of the Confederate authoritiés;” in other words, it calculates upon an overthrow of the government of Jefferson Davis hy 9 vio- lent military revolution. There can be no doubt that this tyranny has become obnoxious to the great mass of the Southern people and the army itself, and that, if the continuance of the reign of this despotism were ‘freely and fairly left to the popular vote to-morrow, a ly end would be put toit. Jef- ferson Davis has been elected for six years by cliques and fraudulent means, and the prospect to the people is intolerable. It is only by scar- ing them with horrible visions of abolition cra- sades that the chiefs of the insurrection could maintain themselves for’one hour or keep their dissolving army together. Millions of the peo- ple are already undeceived, and the reaction is rapidly progressing. If Mr. Lincoln would issue proclamation, and could get it before the Southern people, offering » general amnes> ty, and pledging himself that the rights of pro- perty would be rigidly respected in the South- ern States; and if Congress would adopt a reso- lution to the same effect, and declare that the domestic institution of negro slavery should never more be interfered with where it now exists; and if the question of reunion were put immediately after to the suffrages of the South at the ballot box, we are persuaded that it would be carried in the affirmative by an over- whelming majority, peace would be restored, per the pe StH Sona become again “one an indivisible,” able to hold ite own agsinst all tho Powers of the earth, ‘Tresident Houston the acquisition by England . The Lesson of Seventy Years. Thanks to the foresight and diplomatic saga- city of the administration, all present danger of awar between this country and England has passed away. The rendition of Messrs. Slidell and Mason removes every pretext for hostility on the part of the government of Great Britain ; yet the reasons given by Mr. Seward for their delivery are so in accordance with American tradition, and involve so com- plete a triumph of those principles of inter- national law, for which the United States has ever contended, that the event will be hailed by every patriotic citizen as a great national victory. Every detail of the transaction, how- ever, from the time of the capture of the rebel ambassadors, is pregnant with warning to the American mind, which it is sincerely to be hoped may not be neglected. Congress will be blind indeed if it does not perceive that the time has come to throw off the supineness and apathy with which we have hitherto regarded’ the maritime power of our transatlantic rivals, and to put ourselves, as speedily as pos- sible, in a position to contest the supre- macy which the mother country has hitherto exercised upon the seas. Whoever has been incredulous heretofore, must cease to doubt now that bitter as the hostility of the govern- ment of Great Britain has always been against democratic institutions, the time must come, sooner or later, whea misunderstandings be- tween the two countries will assume a shape which may involve us in inextricable diffi- culties, if we are not prepared to meet it. The acknowledgment, in 1783, by the govern- ment of George III., of the independence of the thirteen North American colonies, after a strug” gle which had lasted seven years, and from which only the most indomitable will and per- severance enabled our forefathers to come out victorious, was the first serious blow that the power of England had ever received. The memory of the loss to the crown of its bright- est jewels, has rankled in the memory of the people of that country ever since, and, while its governments have handed down the task of vengeance ag an heirloom, every succeed- ing generation has treasured up the remem- brancé of the rebuke British tyranny then re- ceived, as only to be atoned for by our national overthrow and destruction. Thus the frequent occAsions on which the American people have manifested courtesy and kindliness have been invariably followed, on the part of England, by some gross indignity, some unworthy and vin- dictive display of ingratitude, calculated to frustrate all efforts to establish cordial relations between nations so closely allied to each other by blood. In times of famine, we have been most bountiful in the relief we have afforded; mishaps to British explorers have been followed by expeditions from our shores for their relief, in which our navigators have freely perilled their lives, and our treasury has willingly poured forth its money; the arrival of the heir appa- rent to the English throne was made a gala period of by our citizens, who greeted him with an en- thusiasm far more flattering in its sincerity than loyalty itself. Yet these outbursts of good will have in each instance been followed by some marked affront, and they have never interrupted for an instant the steady unwavering progress of inimical British diplomacy. After the war of 1812, when it was discovered that the United States was fast rising to the position of a forntidable maritime Power, and that cotton was becoming king, British states- men, finding it impossible to cripple our ener- gies by force, had recourse, not for the first time in their history to—philanthropy! The anti-slave- ry movement which first had its headquarters at Exeter Halland the Stafford. House, was care- fully fostered by the Court and aristocracy of England, for the openly avowed purpoy of aim- ing a death blow at American institutions. The feeling with which the news of the riots in Boston and New York, consequent upon the in- cendiary efforts of George Thomson, the emis- sary to this country from London abolitionists, was received in England, must be vivid in the recollection of those who are old enough to re- member the events of that time. Sir Robert Veel had alveady dectared, in the most emphatic manner that the twenty millions of poundssterling expended for the liberation of the slaves of Ja- was a cheap price to pay for the perni- cious effects which that mea-ure wouid create in the United States, and the shock it would give to democratic government. In fact, the developements of the abolition scheme, as it was followed up year after year, demonsirated beyond cavil, that relief of the negro was but a preiext, and that its rea! deliberate object was to sow such dissension between the North and the South as should eventually result ina dis- ruption of the republic. The mission of Capt. Charles Elliott, known as the “man with the white hat,” for the purpose of negotiating with of Texas, formed part of the plan. in order, in ihe day of our calamity, that an extensive cot- ton region might be at her disposal. The fail- ure of this project and the annexation of Texas wasa fearful blow to Great Britain, and the cleaver headed American politicians of the day, boih North and South, well comprehended the danger that had been averted, and the narrow- ness of the escape. John C. Calhoun, in 1845, wrote the famous letter in which the ma- chinations of England were fully exposed, and thé anti-slavery question was put upon its true basis before the country. Would that the Southern newspapers who affect to reverence the South Carolina statesman os their great apostle would reproduce and ponder over that letter now! It would cover them with confu- sion, and show how completely they have fallea into the trap set for them by their worst enemies. The intrigues of Great Britain finally culmi- nated in the present rebellion, for which the designing diplomatists of the Court of St. James are even more responsible than their dema- gogue dupes in the Northern and Sotth- ern States. So well had the plans of the former been laid; so thoroughly were they informed of every movement intended in the seceding States, that the Queen's proclamation recognizing the South as belligerents—the most signal insult that could be offeredto any regularly organized government—followed, at an interval of only three weeks, the bom- bardment of Fort Sumter, and the commence- ment of the civil war. This proximity‘of dates shows how strongly prepared the British Ministry were for that event, and ite determi- nation to take every advantage of it for our de- triment, andis perfectly consistent with that en- tire abandonment of an anti-slavery for a pro-sla- very policy which has characterized its subse- quent course. The shipment of arms by the Ber- muda Fingal and Gladiator; the alleged presenta- tion of Magon and Slidell to the Captain Genera of Cubs, by the British Consul; the insolent sympathy that has been osteniatiously mani- fested for rebels throughout the Queen’s domi, nions, have been but the forerunners of the out- burst in England, on the reception of the news of the capture of the two rebel ambassadors from the Trent, without waiting for explana- tions, or a single official despatch from any authorized agent of the British Ministry. Ao- cepting the false statements of the purser of the Trent—in many points contradicted by the ladies themselves connected with the secession mission;—a party in England, at once sought to excite a war with this country, and to avail itself of our embarrassments to inflict a mortal wound upon democratic institutions, and punish the patriotism of a past age. - This is an unprejudiced sketch of the p course of Great Britain, and of its late attitude towards the United States. _ All immediate dan- ger of a rupture has fortunately passed away, we trust not speedily to be renewed, but America has the wisdom of Mr. Seward and of the administration to thank for this, far more than any good will on’ the other side of the Atlantic. The Mason and Slidell affair should never be forgotten. It should teach our government and every thinking citizen what our attitude should, hereafter, be to- ‘wards England. Great Britain has » navy with which, for some short time, we could scarcely hope to contend successfully. What- ever, therefore, the future may have in store for the United States, it is the bounden duty of our government to strengthen this arm of our service at once. There should be no hesitation, no false economy, no delay. Our eyes are opened respecting the designs of England, and we should be blind to undervalue, hereafter, either her strength or our own comparative weakness. It behooves us to throw aside apathy, and, profiting by the lessons of what should be a useful experience, to put our- selves in a condition to dispute with any Power on earth the supremacy of the ocean. Inceypiany Fires or Consrimators aT THE Sourn.—The fire at Richmond, of which we published an account yesterday, seems evident- ly to have been the work of an incendiary. The Dispatch of that city says “the theatre was un- doubtedly set fire to on the stage, and perhaps in several places at the same timo—at least this is a reasonahje inference from the rapidity with which it was consumed.” The Rich- mond Heaminer of the 3d instant remarks that, whether the destruction was “by incendiaries or by the visitation of Providence does not ap- pear.” When, however, the event is viewed in connection with the gecent fire in Nashville, so destructive to public and private property, par- ticularly the stores of the rebel government; the fire in New Orleans, blowing up a powder mill of the insurgent authorities; the great fire in Charleston, and another one since; the fire in Norfolk, and several fires in Montgomery together, plainly tho acts of incendiaries, there con be little difficulty in arriving at’a rational solution of the origin of the conflagration in Richmond. The papers of “that city long since stated that there had been numerous at- tempts made to fire it, and now the deed is actually done. Whether these incendiary fires, appearing to originate in a common conspiracy ramilying all over the South, are the acts of the slaves or of the discontented oppressed poor whites who are sick of tfie domination of Jeffer- son Davis and Co., we leave the Southern jour- nals to solve. @ertain it is that there are ele- ments of danger in every city of the South well calculated to inspire alarm, and to con- vince all reflecting, suber and conservative Southern mén that there is no safety for them but in the ark of the Union. . If they do not enter it speedily, and bring with them all their friends, they may be sorry when it is too late. Tue Hyox or Sxarina.—The Goddess of Health should be installed as the presiding deity of the skating pond, and due honors should be paid to her by old and young. The benefits which the exercise of skating daily showers upon ailing humanity are beginning to be recognized even by the physicians, many of whom now prescribe a pair of skates for their patients instead of a pill ora draught. The noxious habit of sitting indoors, inhaling the vapors of stoves and hot sir furnaces, has given the doctors more to do than perhaps any other cause of ill health, and those among them. who are conscientious enough to lose a patient in order to make a healthy being out of a sick wretch recommend the glorious amusement of the skating pond. To ladies, especially, this exercise is a great boon, a3 any one may see who. observes the joyous groups returning from the Central Park or the @&ating grounds of Brooklyn and Williamsburg—their eyes bright with animation, and the bouquets on their checks rivalling June roses, If our female population comprehended the value of outdoor enjoyment which skating tur- nishes, and the perniciousness of confinement in heated rooms, we should have more carna- tion cheeks and happy faces to greet usin our daily walks. Financia, Conprtion or THE Covuntry.—The resolutions passed at the mecting of the asso- ciated banks on the 28th ult. show, on the part of the managers of those institutions, an utter in- competéncy to deal with the present crisis. We had looked to them for some practical recom- mendations for the relief of the government and the public; but the result has disappointed our expectations. There is not a man among them who bas a mind comprehensive enough to grasp the difficulties that at present complicate our financial position. If there had been we should not now have to record, after a fortnight of precious time lost, during which upwards of twenty millions of specie have been drawn from the banks, a string of profitiess generalizations in the form of resolutions. The finances of the country are thus, owing to all this shilly-shally- ing, in pretty nearly the same condition in which the army stood after the battle of Buly run. It isnow for the Secretary of the Treasury to exhibit to the country the same energy and creative ability in connection with our finances which the young Commander-in-Chief of our ar- mies has manifested in the conduct of our mili. tary affairs. Mr. Chase must be our Necker or Colbert. Enotanp aNd Fraxce.—In the views which we published Saturday from the Paris Opinion Nationale, the confidential organ of the Prince Napoleon, the facts are very strongly illustrated that, while America, the republic of the United States, is the natural ally of France, England is her only enemy, and that “ if England is now so ready for war it is owing to her vindictive hatred and defiance of France.” We have no doubt that these Napoleonic ideas are shared by the mass of the French people, and that the settlement of: he Trent difficulty will so strength en the cause oy our government in France and throughout the cc.utinent of Europe as to hold England strictly hereafter to something like an honest néutrality in the matter of our Southern rebellion. The Winter Canrpaignu. Now that General MoClellan is rapidly approaching convalescence, we may antici- pate the opening of a vigorous winter cam- paigp, by the advance of the grand Army of, the Potomac. After three .months. of indefatigable labor, the young Commander-in- Chief has brought the highest military order and discipline out of the chaos which existed on the banks of the Potomac after the disas- trous affair of the 21st of July, which resulted from the insane impetuosity of the abolition leaders and journals. The army is therefore in ® position now to retrieve the errors of that day, and make a bold dash upon the soldiers of the rebellion. There is no word of winter quarters for our armies. Their quarters will be found in the field of action, where ‘we trust they may rest upon their arms, clothed with the mantle of victory, after many a gallant But while the Army of the Potomac has been organizing, and discontented grumblers have been complaining that nothing was being done, let us look at the accounts which the rebels themselves give of the repeated successes which our troops have achieved within the past few weeks at different points, and let those be a sufll- cient answer to the abolitionists who are erying out against the “ inactivity” of the army. Our only information upon these successes, be it remembered, comes from rebel sources—the columns of the Richmond, Charleston, New Orleans and other Southern papers. Thus we learn from the Charleston Mercury that our troops have landed at North Edisto Island and taken possession .of the important station st Adams’ Run, on the Savannah and Charleston Railroad, twenty-three miles south of Charles- ton, thus cutting off all communication by rail- road between that‘city and Savannah. Again, we have the authority of the Augusta (Ga) papers for the fact that General Sherman had defeated the rebels at Port Royal on the 2a inst., after two days’ fighting. The Rich. mond Dispatch informs us that Colonel Brown opened a brisk firo from Fort Pickens on the 31st ult., to which the rebel batteries do not seem to have replied with any effect. The same journal also states, on the authority of a despatch from Mobile, that an immense force from General Butler’s expedition at Ship Island had advanced into the country at the mouths-of the Mississippi, taken possession of Biloxi, dnd were expected to make a forward movement to- wards Jackson. From the same source we learn that an attack by our troops at Evang- port, and other points onthe Potomac, whe hourly expected by the rebels, and that General Magruder is in a great state of trepidation and anxiety at Yorktown; and further, that the rebels at Big Bethel have been defeated and driven out of that post by our troops within ‘a few days past. 7 * Such isa portion of the record furnished by rebel authorities. When we receive our own accounts of these several movements we may expect to hear a still more favorable story of the achievements of our armies. Nor is it by force of arms alone that we are weakening the enemy. The desperate hand of incendiarism in his own homesteads is aiding to humble him. Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, has been set on fire seven or eight times. Charleston, after being partially demolished by the late great conflagration, was again fired on Sunday night, according to the Richmond papers: Nashville, Tennessee, was the scene of another disastrous conflagration on the night of the 22d ult., by which a large quantity of shells were exploded. A powder mill at New Orleans was blown up on the 29th ult., and a large store of government powder destroyed. The New Or- leans papers admit it to have been the work of an incendiary. Thus, with sword and fire—by our armies from without, and their own op- pressed people from within—the rebels are being crushed out at a rapid pace. What have the abolition growlers to say to all this? And aow that the lines are drawing closer around the rebel strongholds in almost every di- rection, and that General McClellan is about to open the winter campaign with his grand army, the position of the rebellion at all points will be a hazardous ofe, out of which a glorious consummation may be hoped for. Srecrm mm Cmctariox.—In all commercial panics which have necessitated a suspension of specie, payment in the United States, coin has at once become scarce, and has commanded a high premium. During the terrible revulsion of 1837, #uinplasters of ‘the value of five and ten cents replaced the small currency of the country, and specie nearly disappeared asa circulating medium. How is it to be during this political revulsion, with nearly three hun- dred millions of coin in the country?, Thus far, although the banks have suspended specie pay-> ments, the fact would scarcely be observable but for the efforts of a few speculators in gold and silver. In restaurants, coffee houses, hotels, and among newsboys. no scarcity is complained of, and change is as readily made as ever. Wan Times Fivse Tres.—If a foreigner visiting our city should happen to glance at the list of nearly twenty places of public amusement daily published in our columns, he would be inclined to wonder at the insouciance of a community that could exhibit so much levity in the midst of a costly war. Let him look into the condition of things generally, how- ever, and his wonder will cease. The burdens of war have as yet proved a bagatelle to us; business of every kind is flow ; the necessa, ries of life, with the exception of tea, coffee and sugar, are cheaper than they ever were be- fore, and there never was so little distross or suffering amongst the working classes. Why, then, should we not amuse ourselves? “Grief,” as the proverb says, “never cured pain.” Onioww ann Caanactan or Tun Wan.—The Hon. Edward Everett will deliver his address on ‘The Origin and Cha- racter of the War’ before the Mercantile Library Asso- elation, at the Academy of Music, to-morrow ovening, January 7,at eight o'clock. The Hon, George Opdyke, will preside on the occasion. Pewetianten en eed * SAILING OF THE TRANSPORT ILLINOIS. ‘The United States steam transport Illinois sailed yan. terday afternoon for Koy West. She had on board tho Ninetioth regiment, Colonel Morgan, numbering 050 mon rank and fle, de REGIMENT NEW YORK STAT, meer eiimermeaneer 7 A Captain Clinton Berry will leave this city op Tuesday the A inet., for Poole-yille, Md., where thig Fogticent 18 at presant stationed, and will take with him any respect. abie tar ‘ho desire to enliet In the regjraent. This op. portuniPshould not be lost by those dv’,irous of serving Their vountry. Headquarters in Bos, Seyonth street, 4 near ‘Third ayonue,