The New York Herald Newspaper, February 12, 1862, Page 4

, NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, OFFICE X, W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. TERMS cash in advance. sent ty matt will beatthe ro the cmier, “Noma tut Bank ills curvent in New Yord a PGB RPRALD tao erntirom ane ‘$7 per annum. LY HE! LD, every Saturaay, af stx cents , OF $8 per annum, the European Eiition avery Wednestay, at tis cents percopy: 4 per cum 6 any part of Great Britain, or $6.12 to include postage; tha jon on the Lot, 11th and 2lat af cach month, atsiz | ents per copy, or $275 per annua THR FaMive HEALD, on Wednesiay, at four conts Dr or ‘anna . PoLunTanr CORRESPONDENCE, containing important ‘solicited! ‘any quarter of the world; if used, will a part Jor. Bap OUR FoR¥iGN CORRKSPONDENTS ARR ARTICULARLY [.RQUESTED 70 BEAL ALL ‘SENT 'U NOTICE taken of anonymous correrpondence. Wedono weturn rejected communications ADVERTISEMENTS rencwea to any ‘of the Continent, ts RS AND PACK: ; advertisements ine ‘werted in the W¥RRLY Hupat. FamiLy HaRaip, and in the n Editions. JOB PRINTING executed with neatness, cheapness and de AMUSEMENTS TIS EVENING, WIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Wauxes—Paxruction, = GARDEN, Broadway,—Sextovs Famity—Natap x. wauacKs THEATRE, No. 84 Broadway.—Tax Inisz, LAURA KEENE’S LAURA KEENE’S THEATRE, Broadway.—Ovn Aura. NEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Eartaqvacr— Moumr—laui. Joxes. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Sricxxgr's Natioxat Cmovs. Atteruoun and Evening. BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway. Norr—Living Hirrorotamus, Waave, &c., at all hours,— Oxpura, sfvernoon aud evening. BRYANTS’ MINSTRELS, Mechanics’ Hall, 472 Broad. ‘way.—VOWN IN ULp K-¥-xy. HOOLEY’S MINSTRELS, Stuyvesant, Tnstit Brosdway.—Eruiorian Somes, Daxens, ag NO 6 NIBLO'S SALOON, Broadway.—Gorrscuanx’s Concent MELODEON CONCERT HALL. No. 589 Broadway. | G8, Dancus, Buaiusques, &¢.—Hotipar in [ReLand. CANTERBURY MUSIC HALL, 585 Broadway.—Soni ancus, BURLESQUES, &C.—MaztLy, THE NIGHT OWL | GAIETIES CONCERT ROO Room Entertainments, Bat Pantomimes, Farcus, &c. AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, 444 Broadway.—Sonas, Bat- Lats, Pantomimes, &c.—Vorsmait Painran. CRYSTAL PALACE CONCERT HALL, No. 45 —— Buaixsquus, Soncs, Daxcxs, &c.—Rxvuzvous. “thie PARISIAN CABINET OF WONDERS, = Open daily from 1AM UOT. Me sais NOVELTY MUSIC = ELTY MUSIC HALL, 616 Brosdway.—Bonzesurs 6 Broadway.—Driwing | New York, Wednesday, February 12, 1862 THE SITUATION. * After a severe contest, which lasted for three ays, the troops of General Burnside’s expedition have taken possession of Roanoke Island. The victory was completed on Sunday evening, and our troops were landed in large force. The Stars and Stripes were immediately hoisted over the rebel batteries. At noon on that day the rebel Commodore Lynch, camo down Currituck Sound with his little fleet to relieve General ‘Wise; but our flotilla opened a brisk fire upon them, and beforé five o’clock in the afternoon three of the rebel gunboats were sunk, including the flag boat, two were captured and the rest were dispersed in every direction. The utmost conster- mation is said to prevail in Norfolk and Portsmouth in consequence of this disaster to the rebel cause. Our success at Fort Henry, on the Tennessee tiver, increases in importance as the detailed ews of that brillaint affair reaches us from day today. The account which we give of it from our special correspondent to-day is most graphic, and will be road with great interest. Not only have our troops“got possession of the strongest Point on the Tennessee river, but they have pushed further into the territory of the rebels, carrying victory with them, and working out inthe most satisfactory manner the grand plan devised by the Commander-in-Chief to circumvent all the rebel strongholds in that direction. It appears, by a despatch received yesterday at St. Louis from Cairo, that Capt. Phelps, of Commodore Foote’s equadron, in command of the gunboat Conestoga, bas returned from an expedition up the river, having penetrated as far as Florence, in Alabama, after capturing a new rebel gunboat and destroy- ing all the other gunboats between Fort Henry and the town of Florence. Thus it will be seen that we hold in absolute possession a vital strategic point, which emperils the most celiable positions of the rebels, and will enable our armies, by @ few more successful com- binations, to render both Columbus and Bowling Green comparatively worthless to them, by cutting eff their connections with the South, and so save the necessity of reddcing them at a great sacrifice of dife. Two persons who arrived at Louisville yester- Gay report that the rebels are evacuating Bowling Green, and are falling back on Nashville. If this statement be true it proves that the move- ments of our troops in the rear have convinced the rebel leaders that Bowling Green is no longer the strong strategic point it was a few weeks ago, and that it must be abandoned before it is entirely cut off from communication with the South. A detachment of our cavalry, 250 strong, had an engagement with # body of rebels on Sun- day, seven miles east of Fort Henry, in which five of the rebels were killed and thirty taken Prisoners. A portion of the railroad bridge on the Louisville, Clarksville and Memphis Railroad was destroyed by our troops on Saturday night, the rebels, who were encamped there to protect it, having previously evacuated the place. ‘The fate of Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland river is likely to be speedily decided after the manner of Fort Henry. A special despatch received at Cincinnati from Cairo yesterday states that Gen. Grant had surrounded the fort with seven batteries of artillery, and that he would commence shelling it to-day. General Pillow is said to be in com- mand there with 2,000 men. Other reports state that the garrison numbers 8,000, which is pro- bably true, if, as stated, the infantry force which fled from Fort Henry has reached Fort Donelson. The trees for two miles around the fort have been cut down by the rebels, in readiness for action, and it is thought that, as there are two small forts and three camps outside the main fortifications, the approaching battle will be far more desperate than that at Fort Henry. ‘The Secretary of War has issued Proposal for & contract to establish a regular daily line of swift steamers between Fortress Monroe, Hatte- ras, Port Royal and Roanoke Island, tHe inti- mates that none but parties who have immediate means of putting vessels on this line need make Proposals, ‘The atrival of our newspaper despatches by NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14%, 1862. the Jura last night enables us to submit to our readers a complete translation of Napoleon's speech to the French Legislature at the opening of the session of the Chambers. The paragraph re- lating to the war in America differs little from the report, telegraphed from Portland, which was given in the Hexaup yesterday. The London Times affects to see considerable enmity to th® Union and animosity towards our plan of blockade in the words of the Emperor; but if Imperial words are to be taken in a literal sense, we can read them only as expressing his anxiety for the termi- mination of the struggle at an early day, anda due respect for neutral rights, when clearly de- fined. The Imperial ‘‘ Blue Book"’ submitted to the members is even more explicit on both these | points. Earl Bussell’s reply to wr. Seward, on the strict- ly legal points of international law as applied to contrabands of war and neutral ships, contained in his Mason-Slidell surrender. circular, is given in extenso. Some few additional particulars of the arrival of Mason and Slidell in Southampton and London are also published. CONGRESS. In the Senate yesterday, the chairman -of the Finance Committee announced that he should call up the Treasury Note bill to-day, and press it toa speedy passage. By reference to our despatches from Washington, it will be seen that the com- mittee have made some important amendments to the bill. A resolution of the New York Chamber of Commerce, in favor of the immediate passage of the Treasury Note bill, and pledging the sup- port of the merchants of New York to the govern- ment, was presented; also a petition from the Chamber on the subject of postal reform. A large number of petitions in favor of employing homeo- pathic practitioners in the army was presented. A joint resolution explaining the act indemnify- ing States for war expenditures to mean expenses incurred before and after the passage of said act was adopted. A joint resolution was adopted that the two houses of Congress assemble in the House of Representatives on Washington's birth- day, the 22d of February, and that the President, the members of the Cabinet, the foreign represen- tatives, the officers of the army and navy, and others, be invited to attend, and that Washington's Farewell Address be read. A bill authorizing the banks of the District of Columbia to issue notes of less than five dollars was referred. Mr. Sum- ner offered a series of resolutions declar- ing that the revolted States have commit- ted felo de se, and that their relations as members of the United States no longer ex- ist; that their allegiance has been severed, and the federal government owes no obligation to any pretended State government usurping certain ter- ritory; that individuals occupying such territory owe allegiance to the general government only, and the general government to the individuals; therefore persons heretofore held as slaves may look henceforth to the general government for pro- tectipn as individuals. A motion to lay them on the table was carried by a vote of 21to15. The bill making appropriations for completing seacoast and lake fortifications was then taken up and dis- cussed till, upon coming toa vote upon a motion, it was discovered that there was no quorum pre- sent, whereupon the Senate adjourned. In the House of Representatives, the Senate’s amendments to the bill appropriating ten millions of dollars for the construction of twenty iron-clad steam gunboats were concurred in; so the bill only requires the President’s approval to become a law, Mr. F. A. Conkling offered a preamble and resolu, tion setting forth thatthe army countersign was known to the rebels on the Potomac on the day the steamer Pensacola passed down the river, before it was communicated to the Union forces; that in- formation of Union military and naval movements is frequently communicated in advance to the enemy, under circumstances justifying a suspicion of treachery on the part of persons in the service of the government; and that the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War investigate these charges, and report thereon. The resolu¥on was adopted. A bill establishing a Department of Agriculture was introduced. The case of Mr. Segar, who claimed a seat as representative from the First district of Virginia, was resumed, and upon coming to a vote the House, by a vote of eighty-five to forty, adopted the report of the Com- mittee on Elections, declaring Mr. Segar not en- titled to a seat. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. In the State Senate yesterday the Erie Railroad bill was under consideration in Committee of the Whole. Favorable reports were made on the bills to amend the Excise laws of 1857; to define the duties and powers of boards of supervisors; to amend the Long Island Railroad Company's char. ter, and to provide for payment of certain pro- tested canal drafts. In the Assembly private bills were considered, but no account of any proceed- ings of general interest had reached us. The Railroad Committee of the Assembly held a meeting last evening on the subject of the proposed Broad- way Railroad. Before adjourning they agreed to hold a meeting for the hearing of arguments pro and contra next Tuesday afternoon at three o'clock. The following were the houses that were de- stroyed by fire at Harper's Ferry on the 7th inst., by order of Colonel Geary:—The Wager, Galt and Railroad hotels, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot, Winchester Railroad depot, Welch's store, the telegraph office, and the dwelling houses of Mrs. Wager, Mrs. Darin, Mrs. Ellen Chambers, George Chambers and Wm. J. Stevens. None of them had been occupied for some time except by rebel soldiers. Dr. D. C. Peters, who has been in charge of the prisoners at Fort Warren, las been ordered to re- port at Fort Pickens. The Legislature of Kentucky will meet again to- day in Frankfort. The Democratic State Convention of Connecti- cut will meet to-day at Middletown. The call prayerfully appeals to the people to come forward and sustain the President in putting down the re- bellion and restoring the Union, and at the same time to give the democratic party helping hand. It is reported that correspondence with the rebels had been found among Gen. Stone's papers: The ice in the Central Park yesterday was in a moderately good condition during the day, although rather inclined to softness. A very large con- course of people visited the Park before supper time; but, as it began to snow after dusk, the evening skaters were comparatively few. At Lin- coln Park there was a moderate number of skaters assembled, and the club ponds at Brooklyn and Williamsburg were fairly attended, both by ladies and gentlemen. A carnival is to be held on the ice in Portland this afternoon, if the weather should continue pleasant. The journalsof that city support the project, with great hopes of its success, A carni- val was recently held in Toronto, and another was in contemplation in Montreal. Skating carnivals appear to be quite the rage this season. ‘he Board of Aldermen will meet on Thursday evening, by a special call, to receive the report of the Committee on the Mayor's Message. It is likely that there will be a lively time. Aman in Hartford has o pipe leading froma spring above passing through his icehouse, This is pierced by numeroug small holes, aud when the weather is very cold the house is thrown open and the water turned on. The fine spray and jets freeze as they fall, and in a few days, or weeks at farthest, the house is filled with one solid lump of ice, with no labor of cutting and hauling. ‘The trial of Frederick Leever, for the homicide of Thomas Ryan at a dance house in Water street, was continued yesterday in the General Sessions. The evidence on both sides closed in the afternoon, when Mr. Brady summed up, and, in his felicitous style, subjected the evidence for the prosecution to a rigid analysis, At the conclusion of his argu- ment the Court adjourned till this morning, when Mr. Haff will address the jury for the prosecution. Under tho influence of the foreign news, and a better demand from spinners, the market for cotton yesterday was firmer and more active. The sales ombracot about 1,200 bales nearly all of which was taken by spinners, closing stiffon the basis of 29c. a 300. for middling up- lands, The exports of cotton from tho United States from the 1st of September, 1360, to the 12th Fobruary, 1361, were as follows:— +» 1,104,000 000 183,000 .. 1,697,000 Thore wore no exports fron the Ist September, 1851, to Febraary 12, 1862. Tho receipts at tho ports from the Ist September, 1860, to February 12, 1861, were aa fol- lows:— ««° 3)4B8,000 000 ie ——— 2,483,000 ‘The Mobile Advertiser gives the following comparative statement of the recoipts of cotton from the Ist Sep- tember to the 31st Decombor, 1860 and 1861:— The foreign news depressed the market for flour, which fell off from 5c. a 10c. per bbi., while sales were moderate, Wheat was inactive and prices somewhat irregular. Corn was unchanged, while sales were mo- derate. There was some more inquiry for pork for future delivery: sales of {ots on tho spot were made at $12 874¢ a $13 for new moss, and for May and June delivery, do. at $13 25; new prime was at $9 50. Sugars were 801 what less buoyant, but without quotable change in prices. The sales embraced 800 hhds., nearly all Cubas. Coffee was quiet and nominal, but steady. The stock of Rio embraced 91,068 bags, while the stock of all kinds em- braced 130,672 mats and bags. Freights were more active, while rates were without change of moment. The Rebellion Downward—Solemn Ad- vice to the South. The occupation of Roanoke Island by the forces of the Burnside expedition, in giving us the absolute control of the waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, opens our way into the heart of North Carolina, and to the back door of Norfolk and Richmond. The rebel cause in the old-North State—repulsive in the outset, and distasteful to her people ever since—will be very apt now to be trampled in the dust by them as General Burnside advances to their protection. This will surely be the course of wisdom, as the happy results of the good exam- ple of the people of the Eastern shore of Virgi- nia abundantly show. But what other course can now be pursued by the citizens of North | Carolina, consistent with their own safety and the preservation of their domestic institutions? This question is now brought home to them, and to the people of every other State commit- ted to this rebellion. It is virtually confessed by the leaders of this revolt that it is now invested by avircle of fire from which it cannot escape; that on all sides it is hemmed in by superior numbers and in- struments of war; that our blockade and com" plete command of the sea have very nearly starved out King Cotton; and that nothing now can save Jeff. Davis and his Southern confede- racy except the most horrible extremities of incendiarism by the Southern people against themselves. Thus the women and children are exhorted in Georgia, by Cobb and Toombs from Richmond, to set fire to their cities and towns, their homes and their substance, and to leave to our advancing forces “a desert for their occupation more terrible than Sahara.” Such are the inhuman instructions of some of the principal contrivers, leaders and managers of this insane rebellion. Those fellows, entering into this desperate enterprise with visions of the great offices, honors, spoils and plunder of anew confederacy of their own making, are now chiefly solicitous for the safety of their own worthless necks; and to save them from the hangman they are ready for any extremity of ruffianism. But the ferocious counsels of these utterly brutalized and reckless traitors have been pushed too far. Every instinct of self-preservation on the part of the women and children, and of the Chris- tian men of the South, will revolt at such infamous instructions as those of Toombs and Cobb, and at this infamous rebellion which has instigated them. Reflecting Southern men will also begin to compare the blessings of the Union, of which they have been defrauded by this rebellion, with the sweeping extortions and privations of their present intolerable dospot- ism, and in this view we count upon a grand reaction all over the South with the first defeat of the rebel army, on a grand scale, in Virginia or Kentucky. Within the limit of sixty days we expect to announce the complete evacuation of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, and perhaps North Carolina, by the rebel armed forces. We have the men and the means organized and in readi- ness for the work, and those brilliant prelimi- nary affairs of Mill Springs, Fort Henry and Roanoke Island show how the tide is drifting in the West and in the East. European inter- vention may be talked of, it may be discussed between Louis Napoleon and Lord Palmerston; but before they can come to any agreement against us this collapsing Southern confederacy of Davis, Cobb, Toombs and Company will be knocked into pieces. We have ceased to enter- tain any troublesome thoughts of European in- tervention under this conviction. What, then, is the course of wisdom, safety and self-preservation suggested to the people of the South, in view of the hopeless situation of their crumbling Southern confederacy? Their true course isto put it and themselves out of their misery at once by a popular movement for the Union. Two or three brave and reso- lute men, in leading the way, may thus speedily revolutionize a whole county. Now is the time; for the longer they resist the cause of the Union the greater becomes the danger to our revolted States of a war for the extirpation ofslavery, or of its abolition, as the price of European interference. Now, with the return to the Union of our rebellious States, they would return to its securities and guarantees in behalf of the institution of Southern slavery against domestic enemies and foreign combina- tions. The rebellion has failed. Its days are num- bered. There is not the ghost of a chance for it, except through the assistance of Bngland and France, or one or the other of those Powers; and even with the assistance of oither or both | the first effect would most probably be a | of the war: This is one of the misfortunes of Northern crusade against Southern slavery, as | war. It affects neutral nations as well as belli- the last desperate card of self-preservation. Union or disunion, the end of this foreign inter- position would be the end of slavery. We re- peat, however, that before England and France can agree to interpose, they will have not even a pretext left them to undertake the settlement of our domestic affairs. They will, we truly believe, be substantially settled by our over- whelming fleets and armies within sixty days. With these practic»! views of the subject we would earnestly in » the neople of our ro- volted Southern © vliberately to weigh the certain advant: and positive securities of the old Union against the sinking fortunes of Jeff. Davis. The people of the cotton States, by casting Davis and his spurious govern- ment aside, will at once be relieved of all their existing privations and sufferings, and doubts and distresses, by the reopening of their ports to the markets of the world. Their cotton will be instantly converted into clothing and shoes, and salt. and tea, and coffee and numerous other nocossaries, which now command famine prices from ‘Richmond ‘to New Orleans. And | then’the doubtful ‘quostion as to the planting of another cotton crop willbe settledin favor of the crop; and, above all, there will be an end of the overshadowing question of danger—what is to become of Southern slavery ?—for, under the old Union, it will be left to time and to each of the States interested to dispose of this important question. In prosecuting this rebel- lion the defrauded and deluded people of the South have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars; but they may save hundreds of millions, besides their two thousand millions invested in negroes, by abandoning this hopeless contest without further loss of time. The Emperor Napoleon on the Civil War. We published yesterday by telegraph from Portland an extract from the speech of the Emperor Napoleon at the opening of the French Chambers on the 27th of January, and to-day we publish the speech in extenso, from which our readers, who have looked forward with some anxiety to the developement of the Em- peror’s policy, will perceive that it is rather vague manifesto, but at the same time not witb. out @ significant warning behind the cloud which half conceals and half reveals his pur- poses. He says :—“ The civil war which deso- lates America has greatly compromised our commercial interests. So long, however, as the rights of neutrals are respected we must con- fine ourselves to expressing wishes for an early termination of these dissensions.” Some of the English journals construe the allusion to the United States as a covert threat, and as intimating the impatience of France, which, when the occasion appears to demand it, will interpose in our affairs. One British journal, indeed, asserts that Napoleon had de- cided to announce in his speech his intention to raise the blockade, calculating on the promised moral support of England; but that Earl Russell deemed it politic to maintain a ‘“mas- terly inactivity” for afew weeks; and therefore the Emperor, acquiescing in the suggestion, alluded to the American question in his speech in such terms as do not commit him, but leave him free to watch and wait the course of events The London Times seems to foreshadow the same policy. It advises the English nation against too great eagerness to meddle in American affairs, and says “this is a time for awaiting; England can afford to wait; and if there does come any real cause of complaint it will tell all the more for her present patience and forbearance.” This harmonizes exactly with the speech of the Emperor, who says:— “So long as the rights of neutrals are respected ‘we must confine ourselves to expressing wishes for an early termination of these dissensions.” The logical inference is that France and Eng- land feel that the blockade of the Southern coast is effective; that they cannot meddle with it or interfere in our domestic concerns without a direct and flagrant violation of the law of nations, and that their game is therefore blocked for the present. They are bound by their own proclamations of neutrality atthe beginning of the war, and they are fur- ther bound since by the case of the Trent. At the same time itis evident that they are looking around for some leak or flaw in the position of the United States which will enable them to make out acase for intervention, such as will satisfy the public opinion of Europe. Napoleon announces that the civil war which desolates America has greatly compromised the commercial interests of France. Let us see how this is. It is well known that the French government depends for its revenue, to a very great extent, upon the sale of tobacco, of which it grants a monopoly, for a very large sum, to certain individuals in France. The agents of the monopolists came over here to purchase the article, and at this moment there are im- mense quantities of it, worth many millions of dollars, in Virginia, for which the money has been paid. The question is, how is the tobacco to be got out of Virginia and delivered in France? The blockade is an effectual barrier, Hence “the interests of commerce are compro- mised,” and at the same time the interests of revenue. The deficit in the French revenue amounts to one thousand millions of franca— two hundred millions of dollars. Spain has the same arrangements, and has the same interests at stake, both asto her commerce and her revenue. English merchants have also interests involved in tobacco. Take a single instance. Belmont, the agent of the Rothschilds, has. pur. chased a million’s worth of the precious weed for an English house. Jt lies in Virginia, await- ing the raising of the blockade. Nor is tobac- co the only article of commerce by which French interests are compromised. Cotton has been bought to the amount of ten millions of dollars by the agents of commercial houses in England and France; and it has been paid for in arms and munitions of war for the rebel confederacy, part of which the insur- gents have received, and part they hope to receive as soon as the blockade is broken up by the European Powers. How is this cotton to be released from the prison in which it is held? Not # pound of it can reach France or England. Why? Because the blockade is effective. Yet the complaint of the journals representing the. British and French governments has all along been that the block- ade has not been effective. Thus they contra dict themselves. If the blockade was not effective they would not growl as they do; fo" they could still carry on their commerce; but because it is effective they are estopped, and hence their indignation. Therecan be no better argument for the effectiveness of the blockade than that which is made by the French Emperor. French commercial interests are “compro- mised,” and will continue to be until the end gerents. But there is no remedy, unless by an interference with the established rights of bel- ligerents. Will France and England, in violation of in- ternational law, attempt such an interference? If they do, it will be the perpetration of the greatest international crime recorded in his- tory. The partition of Poland was as nothing compared with it. But we are a different peo- ple from the Poles, and will not submit to such an outrage. Let the European conspirators beware. We have no doubt that the French Emperor will agitate the American question in the Cham- bers, and that it will be agitated in the British Parliament, till a public opinion is manufac- tured, under the influence of which a crusade will be organized against American freedom, Some of the Southern journals are beginning to realize the hollow-hearted treachery of their English allies, who fomented and encouraged the rebellion. They are now disgusted, when it is almost too late, with the course-of the leading organ of British opinion, which places the two great representatives of the Southern confederacy in Europe on a level with a pair of negroes. This is a foretaste of what the Southern gonfederacy may expect from British alliance, and an indication of the price that must be paid for assistance against their Northern brothers to the European con- spirators against their liberties and institu- tions. Without delay the Southern plant- ers ought to effect a counter-revolution at the South, and overthrow Jefferson Davis and his junta. They are between two fires. If they hold out, in all human probabili- ty, before ninety days they will be compelled to accept the conditions of their Northern con- querors. If foreign aid should protract the war, what will be the result? They will have to ac- cept a protectorate of European Powers ayow- edly hostile to_their institutions, and the doom of Mexico awaits them. There is only one sure way of escape from the dilemma, and that is sub- mission to the laws of the Union, which will pro- tect them in all their rights guaranteed by the constitution. Thus the Monroe doctrine will be maintained, American independence will be secured, and European intervention will be ex- cluded from this continent by the majestic movefhent of a divided nation reuniting for the common safety. The patriotic courze of Mexico ought to be a lesson to the South. Soon as the hostile foot of the stranger pressed their soil the Mexicans forgot their feuds and united against the common foe. Sagacious British statesmen foresee that this would probably be the result of their intervention in the United States, and their hope is that if the civil war is left to itself a little longer it may work out a permanent division of the great republic. Le; the Southern men, therefore, who have a stake in the country,, disappoint the expectations of the British anti-slavery aristocraey who are gloating over our national dissensiona, and hope by our fall to regain for Old England the place it has lost in the scale of maritime nations. Contract Frauds and the Mercedita Case. Every day we have some new developement in regard to the frauds upon the government in contract jobs, and each of these developements surpasses in meanness and criminality its worst predecessor. The story of the case of the steamship Mercedita is the most recont end the worst exposure. It appears from the published corresponaence that in June, 1861, James C. Jewett & Co., the owners of the Mercedita, sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy describing their vessel, and offering to sell or charter her to the govern. ment at a price to be fixed by the Navy De- partment itself. The same offer was made by letter directly to the President of the United States, and was, of course, referred by him to the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy, by letter, declined to purchase the veasel, as she was unsuited for an armed ship. Now, before this first offer of Messrs. Jewett & Co., a man named Burrill, representing himself as a government agent, or as one having in- fluence with the government, had offered to sell the Mercedita to the government for her owners; but the offer had been very properly refused, as the transaction savored of corruption and percentage. After the refusal of the Secretary of the Navy to purchase or charter the steamer Burrill renewed his offer. He said that he had just retuened from Wash- ington, and could sell this rejected vessel to the very department which had rejected it. He re- ceived permission to doso. In July Burrill offered to pay $100,000 government money for the Mercedita, provided her owners would pay him $5,000 to bribe government officials, in ad- dition to his own brokerage. More patriotic than shrewd, the owners replied that the ves- sel should rot first. After a few hours Burrill again came and said that he had heard from Washington, and would pay the $100,000 with- out any conditions. This offer was accepted. A list of alterations required was then pre- sented by Burrill, and the alterations were made. The next month another list of altera tions, costing $4,000 more, was presented, and the owners had now no choice but to go ahead or lose all their past outlay. In September the ship was turned over to Burrill as the agent of the government. A few days after came a re- quisition from the Secretary of the Navy to pay Burrill $100,000 for the ship, although his name was not mentioned in the bill of sale, and although the real owners of the vessel did not authorize any such interference. The next step was to get this money from Burrill, and then Mr. George D. Morgan came upon the scene, and demanded $2,500 for his share in the business. What share? He stated that he had nothing to do with the sale, but that the owners could never get their money unless he were paid his “commission” first. Well, Mor- gan was paid, and Messrs. Jewett & Co. re- ceived their dues; but the ship yet lies at Williamsburg, not ready for sea, and appa- rently never designed to be ready. This is the plain, simple story of the honest men who were endeavoring to sell their steamship to the government ata fair price. Secretary Welles alludes to it, but does not refute it, in his re- cent communication to Congress upon the sub- ject of naval purchases. As far aw it goos it seoms substantiated and uncontradicted. It needs no comments, and points its own moral plainly enough. We would that this were an isolated case; but, in fact, it is only one of a thousand. Tho people are tired of euch open, bafefaced frauds already. When will the government be enough tired of them to compel their perpe- trators first to disgorge their’ ill-gotten gains, and then to endure the punishment due to swin- diers and thioves? Neen eee en Ju a1Ns1sm Ovt or Sxason.—Elsewhere will be found ¢@ curious correspondence which has taken place Yretween Mr. Dayton; our Minister to France, aud the State Department at Washing- ton, on the subject of the presentation of Ameri- cans at the (ourt of the Tuileries. Our read- ers cannot fai' to be struck with the felicity, in point of time and importance, with which these diplomatic Jenkinsisws turn up to diversify the engrossing cares that at present harass the mind of our community, It has been the habit, as our readers are aware, at the French Co.wt, to receive indis- criminately, at the imperial r.eceptions and balls, all Americans that could obtiie a prespntation through their Minister. The Net has at times comprised upwards of fifty perscas, outnumber- ing frequently the subjects of sil the other governments put together—those of France ex- cepted. In the latitude given in tis respect the present Emperor has been more Mileral to- wards us than any of hig predecessors. There would probably have been no attempt made to curtail the number even now, bat for ciscum- stances that have compelled his Majesty's at- - tention to the subject. > There wasa great outcry ng certain of our contemporaries the other day when Mrs. Lincoln made a praisewortty effort to reform the habits introduced by Southern politicians in the White House, by inviting to her parties only those who were accustomed to conduct themselves like gentlemen. The drunkenness, the rowdyism and the disgusting personal peculiari- ties of many that went to the receptions at the Presidential mansion had become so intolerable that no lady of refined notions could think of putting up with them. The correspondence to which we refer has had its origin in similar com- plaints made against the American guests at the Tuileries. On several occasions they con- ducted themselves so abominably as to excite a general feeling of indignation. Imagine the effect of one of our tipsy ward politicians get- ting entangled in the train of a stately duchess, or dame d@’honneur, or of his making tracks with tobacco juice on the highly polished, floor trodden by so many satin clad feet. To put an end@ to scenes so unseemly, M. Thouvenel, previous to the closing presentation of last year, called upon Mr. Faulkner to add to the names on his list the “quality” of the persons of whom it was composed, This our Minister declined to do, on the ground that an American abroad could have no quality except that of a citizen of the republic. At the last presentation and court ball a similar request was made of Mr. Dayton; but he chose to follow the example of his predecessor.» The conse- quence was that, with the exception of two of the persons on the list, who had official designa- tions, the remainder failed to receive cards. Now, though in a political controversy both Mr. Faulkner and Mr. Dayton ‘would have been justified in the course which they adopted, they were wrong in this case in refusing to accede to the very reasonable demand of M. Thouvenel. This privilege of presentation is a courtesy, and not a right, extended to our Minister by the Emperor; and as, socially, he is responsible for the character of the guests he introduces, it is but proper that when the privilege is abused he should comply with such regulations as are thought necessary to prevent a recurrence of the misconduct complained of. We can see no derogation of the rights of our American sove" reigns in the fact of our Minister handing in te the Court Chamberlain a statement of their pro- fessions, occupations and social status. These are more or less essential to enable the officials entrusted with the control of these matters to decide whether the parties to be invited occupy the positions of ladies and gentlemen—a condition indispensable not merely to ad- mission to court balla abroad, but to good society anywhere. In this country it is not incumbent upon us, because we are republicans, to keep company with Tom, Dick or Harry. Were it so, the advantages im. parted by education and cultivated tastes.would be lost in a medley of discordant and ridiculous pretensions. If this common sense view of the subject had been taken by our Minister, the State Depart- ment would have been spared the diversion of its attention from more important matters to a triviality which jars upon the mind ata time like this. It would be far wiser for the persons in whose behalf these reclamations are made to return and fight the battles of their country at home, than to bring it into contempt abroad by their misconduct and misplaced vanity. Tur Late News rrom Mexico.—We_ yester- day published some interesting news from Vera Cruz, to the 15th of January. Our telegraphic despatches from San Francisco had, however, previously informed us of a battle between the Spaniards and Mexicans at the National Bridge, near Vera Cruz, resulting in the rout of the Spaniards. The news from Mexico, by way of Havana, does not say anything of this battle- This is to be accounted for by the fact that the telegraphic intelligence is fully eleven days later than the news by steamer. The Spanish steamer Alava, that brought to Havana the news we published yesterday, left Vera Cruz on the 15th of January, while the telegraph from San Francisco transmitted the account of the battle received from a courier who had ar- rived at Acapulco on or before the 26th of January. The next accounts from Mexico will cither bring us a confirmation of this report or a denial that a battle has been fought. It is, however, very probable that the intelligence og a fight will be found to be correct; for on the 11th of January the allied troops were en- camped, by permission of thé Mexican authori- ties, some nine miles from the city of Vera Cruz. The Spanish forces might have advanced further without permission, and arriving at the National Bridge, or Puente del Rey, it is evident that the Mexicans would there oppose their progress. In such a case a bloody fight would have been inevitable. : ‘The National Bridge is # handsome and sub- stantial structure of stone, crossing a wide and turbulent stream, with fortified heights enclos- ing it on all sides. On the occasion of tho American expedition to Mexico in 1847, the commanders feared that they would be com- polled to fight « hard battle at this bridge. The Mexicans, however, did not make a stand there. A supply train, under command of Colonel McIntosh, was afterwards attacked there by the Mexicans; but the arrival of Gen. George Cadwallader, with eight hundred men, turned the fight in favor of the Americans, who ended the contest by seizing some of the heights. Since that time the Mexicans bave had abundant opportunities of fortifying the position, which, by latest accounts, was really very formidable, If it be true tint toe