The New York Herald Newspaper, May 20, 1862, Page 6

6 NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1862—TRIPLE NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. DPFICEN. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS, TERMS cash in advance. Money sent by mail will be at the Yigk of the sender. None but Bauk bills current in New York THE DAILY HERALD, two cents per copy. $T per annum. THE b me tl HERALD, every Saturday, at wix cents per rE per annum the European Edition chery Weatrenton, ents Jer anise to any part of Gre in By va or the Comttmend, both to tucluse poste ths Bt. | a Bion onthe Lat, Lh and 2lst of each month, at sice v $2 75 per annum. che eat HELALD, on Wednesday, at four cents per or $2 per an OLUNTARY CORRESPONDENCE, containing important solicited from any quarter of the world; if used, will be BA-OUk FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS ARK ReQuESTKD TO SEAL ALL LETTERS AND Pack- iberally for, No.138 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING, NIBLO’S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tae Excuantrzss. WINTER GARDEN, Broadway.—!-auiax Wire WALLACK’S THEATRE, S11 Broadway.—Mosxr. LAURA KEENE’S THEATRE, RR, Brondurap. Ska or Icx, NEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bov Bowery. —Zaxtue—MiLiew anp His MeN—Goop rox NoTuING. BOWERY THEATR: or Tux Lions—FRenc! Bowery.~Sza Kina's Vow—Lapy BARNUM’S AMERICAN MUSEUM. Broadway.—Com Sorr—Living Wuaus, Dog Snow, &c., at all hours,— Dogan CuxswA—Deap Suor, afternoon and evening. BRYANTS' MINSTRELS, Mechanics Hall.—17? Broad- way.—Kouoxn Far, NIBLO'S SALOON, Broadway.—Gorrsowate’s Concent. DODWORTH'S HALL, &: matic Reapinas. .—Vanpennorr’s Dra- GATETIES MUSIC HALL, 616 Broadway.—Drawine Room ExteatavMents, PEOPLE'S MUSIC HALL, 45 Bowery.—Sztxct Coycert NOVELTY MUSIC HALL, 616 Broadway.—Somerz Musi- Cane. PARISIAN CABINET OF WONDERS, 563 Broadway. — Open daily from 10.4. M. eu19 seas THE SITUATION. The proclamation of the President, which we publish to-day, relative to the military order of General Hunter, declaring the slaves in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida free, is positive in its abrogation of the aforesaid foolish order, as we announced a day or two ago that it would be as s0on as it appeared. Mr. Lincoln affirms that the government had no knowledge of the intention of General Hunter to issue any such order; that neither he nor any other officer had authority to promulgate such a document, and that General Hunter’s proclamation, whether Benuine or false, is altogether void. The President refers to his Message of the 6th of March last, in which he proposed to Congress the adoption of a measure offering, on the part of the government, toco-operate with any State wishing for a gradual abolishment of slavery, and he asks the earnest consideration of the people of those States most interested. Beyomd this conservative and just idea the President does not go. Our special correspondence from General Mcg Clellan’s army to-day furnishes some very interest- ing particulars of the late naval movements near Richmond, which we commend to the attention of our readers. We give elsewhere a map of the scene of General McClellan’s operations on the Peninsula in his advance on the rebel capital. A despatch from General Wool’s division, dated yesterday, says that Suffolk was occupied by his forces. The place was found nearly deserted by the rebels. Everything at Norfolk goes on quietly. Basiness is being resumed there gradually. The report of General Viele, relative to the works erected by the Union troops above Fort Pulaski, shows ina very marked manner what our volun- teers, who have been taken from the pulpit, the counter, the counting house, the farm and the workshop, are capable of doing in erecting out of mud works of suck sufficient strength as to cut off all communication between the rebels at Savan- nah‘and the garrison of that fort. CONGEESS. In the Senate yesterday, Mr. Wilson offered a resolution calling for detailed information respect- ing the African slave trade at New York. A reso- lution was adopted calling for the names of the Officers of the army staffs, where they are now em- ployed, and by whose recommendation they were appointed. Mr. Grimes introduced a bill for the eclief ot Robert Small and others (colored), who recently delivered the rebel vessel Planter to Com- modore Dupont’s squadron. The bill provides ‘that the steamship Planter, with all the cargo, ap- purtenances, &c., be appraised by a competent Ddoard of officers, and that one-half the value thereof shall go to Robert Small and his associates, who ran the Planter out of Charleston harbor, with the provision that the Secretary of the Navy may invest the same in United States stocks, the interest to be paid toSmall and his associates or heirs. The bill was passed. The resolution providing for the presentation of medals of honor to soldiers who distinguish themselves in battle was adopted. The debate on the Confiscation bill was then resumed, and Mr. Sumner made a speech in support of it. Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, moved to strike out the eleventh section of the bill, which authorizes the President to arm negroes, if necessary, to suppress the rebellion, This was rejected by a vote of eleven yeas to twenty-nine nays. Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, moved to strike out the ninth section, which authorizes the President, when he deems it necessary, to issue a proclamation freeing the slaves of all rebels. Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, moved to make it imperative on the President to issue a proclamation to that effect. The discus- sion was continued; but without taking the ques- tion the Senate adjourned. In the House of Representatives, the special committee on the subject reported articles of im- peachment against West H. Humphreys, Judge of the District Court of the United States for Ten- nessee. Humphreys is charged with gross ne- glect of official duty, violation of the laws, endeavoring to incite revolt and rebellion, pub- lishing the secession ordinance of Tennessee, combining with Jeff. Davis and others to over- throw the government of the United States, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. The report was accepted, and a resolution adopted providing for the appointment of a committee of five to conduct the impeachment. The House then went into Committee of the Whole, and Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, made a sensible speech on the negro question. The Naval Appropriation bill ‘was considered, and @ proviso to the appropria- tion for the Naval Academy, declaring its present location at Newport, R. I., to be temporary, was rejected. The bill was finally passed by the House. It embraces appropriations for the naval service to the amount of $38,000,000. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. By the arrival of the French war steamer Mon- tezama, from Vera Cruz, we learn that the French still advancing upon the city of Mexico. There had been some slight collisions | diseases of the kon troops were between the French and Mexicans, in which the latter are represented to have had the worst of it, Our Vera Cruz correspondent writeg that a good deal of sickness prevailed there, and that the vo- mito was making havoc throughout the country. ‘The French troops, however, seem to be in @ healthier region, comparatively safe from this dreadful visitant. The people were confidently expecting American intervention. Captain Souper, of the brig Lucy Darling, from Nassau, N. P., on the 6th of May, reports that it was said that the steamship Oveita, from Liver- pool, was arming at one of the wharves there for service as a rebel privateer. The Stettin, with the English flag, reported having been fired into by a United States gunboat off Abaco; but on refe- rence to her log it was found that she was.near Charleston, and endeavoring to run the blockade, On the 30th of April the steamer Kate took on board the coal brought to Nassau by the British schooner Prince of Wales, from New York. On April 27 the British steamer Southwick sailed for Liverpool. The rebel steamer Ella Warley was reported as taken by the federal fleet on May 5. On the 6th of May the brig Fanny Lewis ar- rived at Nassau from Liverpool, laden with gun- powder for the rebels by Fraser & Trenholm, and consigned to Henry Aliderley & Co. At six P. M. same day a rebel steamer came in, one that has never been in Nassau befere. May 8, at four P. M., off Elbow Kay, the captain saw a small rebel steamer boung south, In our paper to-day will be found an interesting account of the destruction of telegraphic commu nication between New Orleans and Mobile, by a party of fifteen United States sailors and soldiers, on the taking of Pass Christian, Mississippi, in the face of a constant fire from the enemy’s battery. We are glad to learn that Acting Master’s Mate John O, Ormond, of Brooklyn, who had charge of the expedition that so gallantly achieved this result, has beensince promoted to the position of master commander. Gen. Hunter’s proclamation, if it could be forced into effect, would free over one. million, two hundred and thirty thousand slaves, which are va- yued by their owners at more than six hundred millions of dollars. The Legislature of Western Virginia adjourned on the 15th inst., and the law for a new State will now go before Congress for ratification. The Methodists have three hundred and thirteen clergymen in the Union army, holding the follow- ing positions:— Other comontenioned 4 2 1 36 Total... seccesesesceeccvecssers ere e'dtaslan'e 313 The following appeared in the advertisement columns of a Western paper. Perhaps Mr. Gree- ley can explain it:— Pxrsow..—To Wirsers & Wricat:—Sms—When ioe discharge your negroes and your geese foreman, tl you-eaa hire white men. John T. Monroe, the Mayor of wow One Onaeeal told Commodore Farragut that there was not aman in New Orleans who would raise the Stars and Stripes in that city. The next day, hawever, a num- ber of the citizens were shot in the streets for shout- ing for the Union, and four hundred and eighty men marched out of Fort Jackson in a body and took the oath of allegiance to the United States, ‘The war in Kansas, which is now raging between Gov. Robinson, Jim Lane's friends and the Jay- hawkers generally, seems likely to swallow up all thoughts of the rebellion, and to resolve itself into another border ruffian contest, with this single dif- ference, that the present trouble is entirely be- tween the free soil men themselves. The demo- orate and conservatives are quietly looking on. The First regiment of Nerth Carolina Volun- teers, which has been raised in Washington and Beaufort counties, is now nearly complete. It will be ready in a short time to take the field, under command of E. E. Potter, United States Army. It requires, it seems, the presence of over twelve thousand government troops in Kansas to keep the freesoilers and abolitionists in that State from destroying each other. The quarrel between them is raging furiously; but, fearing the inter- ference of the soldiers, they refrain from coming to blows. The Wheeling Intelligencer thinks that Stone- wall Jackson has been largely reinforced from Jo. Jobnston’s army, and that it is his intention to again enter Western Virginia, if he can force through the lines of Banks and Fremont. Gen. Kelly, who was wounded at Philippi, has again taken the field in Western Virginia, and is at present engaged in hunting Gov. Letcher’s buashwhackers. The extensive tobaceo factory belonging to B. H. Lewis, in Glasgow, Missouri, was destroyed by fire on the 7th inst. Loss $150,000. The People’s (republican) State Convention of Pennsylvania will meet in Harrisburg on the 17th of July. The Board of Councilmen were in session last evening; but no business of special interest was transacted. A resolution was presented by Mr. Lent in favor of permitting the New York*Chris- tian Alliance to hold public worship in the streets and public places on the Sabbath, subject to such protection as is guaranteed by law. After a short debate the paper was referred to the Committee on Law. A resolution was presented to appoint a joint committee of five members from each Board for the purpose of making suitable preparations for the celebration of the approaching anniwersa- ry of our national independence, which was laid over. A communication was received from the Croton Aqueduct Department in an- swer to a request for their opinion on the subject of a uniform system of drainage, which was ordered to be printed in the minutes. Aresolution was adopted directing the Harlem Railroad Company to cause extra guards to be added to their bridges within the bounds of the city south of Ninety-second street, to prevent the recurrence of accidents involving @ loss of life. The Committee on Ordinances were requested to Teport an ordinance modifying the present ordi- nance in relation to the incumbrance of streets and sidewalks. The Board concurred in granting Mr. Valentine $3,500 for preparing the Manual for 1862. They also concurred inthe adoption of an ordinance relative to the construction of vaults and cisterns, and in a resolution authorizing the erec- tion of a new house for Hose Company No. 12. The Joint Special Committee of the Common Council on National Affairs met in room No. 8 City Hall yesterday. A resolution was offered and adopted, recommending that the Comptroller be authorized to raise the sum of $500,000 by the is- sue of bonds to be known as the Volunteer Fami- ly Aid bonds, bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum, and the principal to be due in three years. As the name of thebonds im- ports, this fund is intended for the relief of the families of the volunteers now serving in the Union armies. A letter was received from the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park, offering the buildings known as the Mount St. Vincent Acade- my, situated in the Central Park, to be used asa permanent hospital for wounded soldiers. Mo- ther Jerome, the Principal of the St. Vincent's Hospital, sent in a communication stating that she had organized a corps of eighty nurses, and offer- ed their services to the committee for duty in the Central Park Hospital. The joint Boards of the Common Council being by this time in session, the farther consideration of the subject was laid over until Thursday next, at three o'clock. According to the City Inspector's report there were 369 deaths in the city during the past week— a decrease of 44 aa compared with the mortality of the week previous, and 12 less than occurred during the corresponding week last year. The re. capitulation table gives 5 deaths of alcoholism, 2 of ) Joints, &o.; 84 of the beain and Sg of "the generative organs, 12 of the heart and blood vessels, 121 of the lungs, throat, &e.; 5 of old age, 24 of diseases of the skim and eruptive fevers, 12 premature births, 54 of dis- eases of the stomach, bowels and other digestive organs; 26 of uncertain seat and general fevers, M1 of diseases of the urinary organs, and 14 from violent causes, There were 245 na- tives of the United States, 12_of England, 74 of Ire- land, 3 of Scotland, 26 of Germany, and the balance of various foreign countries ‘The stock market opened weak yesterday, but closed strong. Tho bears used the intervention rumors and the gunboat affair to good purpose early in the morning; but the public wore only too ready to take any stock that Offered at a decline. Money was very easyatdasS. Ex- change dull at 113%. Gold 103% 43%. The bank depo. ‘sits show a further increase of $4,444,723, and the loans an increase of $3,342,571 The cotton market yesterday was unchanged, and, as usual on Mondays, sales were limited, boing confued to about 200 balea in small lots, closing quietly at about ‘27 sec. a 28c. for middling uplands, Breadgtuffs were all lower, the decline taking im noarly the whole list. Owing to the decided giving way in prices, especially in wheat, many orders hitherto lying dormant, being limited at rates under present curront rates, wore filled, giving rise to increased activity in sales. Tho heavy receipts, with the firmneas in froights, contributed to depress prices. Flour, for most grados, declined full Sc. per bbl. The fall in wheat was stilt more decided, as will-be seen from quotations given im another column. Corn was also heavy and lower, with salos of mixed, in store and delivered, at 49c. a Sligc. Pork was heavy and dull, with sales of mess at $12 $0, and of prime at $9 75a $9874. Sugars were less active but firm, with sales of 525 bhds. and 355 boxes at full prices. Coffee was steady, but quiet. Freights were firm, with moro offering. The Order of General Hunter—The Pro- clamation of the President. Major General Hunter’s silly order relative to the abolition of slavery in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida is effectually squelched. The President has issued his proclamation, which not only settles this particular case, but defines the position of the administration on this important point and on the compensation principle of his special message of March last. After the unwavering line of policy of the President, from the firing of the firat gun at Fort Sumter till the present day, we have had no reason to expect any other course; and now, that the rebuke administered. to General Fremont has been repeated, even more emphatically, to General Hunter, the pub- lie will be rejoiced that we have so conserva- tive a statesman at the helm of the nation, and one who is determined to adhere to the rights of the respective States as guaranteed by the constitution. The proclamation, which we publish else- where, is manifestly the most important State paper issued. since the outbreak of the re- bellion. It is tho result of a Cabinet council held yesterday after the return of Measts. Seward, Welles and Bates from’ General McClellan’s headquarters, ‘and in that view is clearly the deliberate’ anf de- clared policy of the administration, al- though it bears the special marks of Mr. Lin- coln’s own work. All opposition from any par- ticular member of the Cabinet, and all outside pressure from the radicals of Congress or of the press, have been crushed out by the Presi- dent, and hereafter we may expect to escape the unwarrantable and ridiculous efforts of military generals to interfere with the prerogatives of the civil power in attempt- ing to make political capital out of the poor contrabands. It was time for Mr. Lincoln to settle this matter, and place the question where the pa- triot and the true lover of the consti- tution and the country can reach it and sustain his action against the assaults of the radical abolitionists and ja- cobins who have been upheaved by the troubles of the republic. Now, with the rights of the South thus clearly defined; with our splendid army in the field, led by such conserva tive’ and pstriotic soldiers as McClellan, Halleck and Burnside, and with our fleets commanded. by such gallant sailors as Du- pont, Farragut and Foote, the President, ‘by his firm and patriotic course, will bring the nation safely and splendidly out of the troubles into which it has been plunged by the abolitionists of the North and secessionists of the South. We breathe freer and deeper. Poor GReELey IN 4 Passion.—Poor Greeley has adopted the language, but not the manners, of the jail birds and gallows rogues who fill our State prisons. Like these fellows, he is con- stantly using such epithets as “liar,” “swin- dier,” “forger,” “thief,” “rascal” and “robber;”” but the prison gentry employ these terms calm- ly, politely and in moderation. Poor Greeley, however, has not yet attained to the polish and refinement of the best prison society, When he gets up of a morning, comes down town, reads the papers and finds fils journal a by the Herato, he flies in a fury of rage, takes off his coat, throws up his white hat, dances a war dance, tears his hair, sticks his head out of the Tribune office window, shakes his fist in the direction of our establishment, and shouts him- self hoarse in calling us hard names. He might a great deal better take matters coolly. We always told him he could not conduct a news- paper, and now Mr. Gay, his managing editor since Dana left, has written a letter in which he says:—“The Henatp is constantly ahead of us. We are obliged to copy from it.” The public therefore understand that poor Greeley’s rage is only the result of jealous envy, and laugh at bis paroxysms. Poor old Greeley! Why don’t he give up the Tribune? He might certainly make a living from his penny-a-line contributions to the Independent, even if he has been kicked off the Tedger, as the absence of his usual article in that paper suggests; or he might live on the proceeds of his gun manufac. tory; or he might start another Fourrierite‘asso. ciation. Certainly no State prison association could receive him in his present state of man- ners. Even his friends, the rebels, could not tolerate him. peal Tue Tame ‘xB ON Epwin TaMmes.—This fine May gweather has brought out the drunken edi- tor of the Trilunein full feather. He had an article upon Edwin James yesterday, which combined the eloquence of gin and sugar, brandy and water, rum toddy and whiskey punch—a villanous compound of bad liquors, and a villanows editorial as the result. Richmond and Corinth—The Two Great Impending Battles. The rebellion has become very much eim- plified. In the outset its programme compre- hended the seizure of Washington, a united South and a divided North, the breaking of Lin- coln’s blockade, the recognition of the “ Confe- derate States” and the armed intervention of England and France, through the imperative and all-powerful demands of “King Cotton,” and the triumphant establishment of a Southern confederacy, embracing the District of Columbia and all the slave States, excepting little Dela- ware, and stretching out through the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona-to the Gulf of Cali- fornia and the Pacific Ocean. This was a formidable programme, and a con- sistent one, and plausible withal, from the con- dition and appearances of things one short year ago; but mark how it has been broken into pieces. The battle of Bull run, if it decided nothing else, caused the abandonment by the rebels of that original bold revolutionary coup @etat, the seizure of Washington. The Trent af- fair resulted in a definite understanding with England against intervention in behalf of Jeff. Davis, and against any offensive intermeddling with our Southera blockade. cotton or no cot- ton. The rebellion, moreover, has united the Nothern States as one man, and has divided the South. In rescuing Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri from the very jaws of the secession monster, and in bringing Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina and Louisiana within the door of their deliverance, we have shorn this magnificently projected empire of Jeff. Davis of more than half its fair proportions. We have still further weakened this chap- fallen rebellion by the recapture of Norfolk, Fort Macon, Beaufort (N. C.), Port Royal, Fort Pulaski, Pensacola and New Orleans; and be- fore the expiration of twenty days we expect Savannah and Mobile will be reoccupied by the “old flag.” Driven hundreds of miles back from their original northern defensive line, and back from their seaports into the interior, and back from the Mississippi, from Cairo to the Gulf, aa we may say, Jeff. Davis and his rebel- lious confederates are reduced to the last alter- native of staking everything left them upon “a single cast of the die” in the East and in the West. In the East they have mustered a great army, and have exhausted their military resources ia that quarter for a desperate struggle for their Confederate capital of Richmond. In the West, at Corinth, they have mustered another great army for a deperate struggle to maintain their footing in those cotton States which rest upon the Gulf of Mexico, and to recover, if possible, the lower Mississippi river. But such are the desperate extremities of Davis and his confede- rates that if they are decisively defeated at Richmond a victory for them at Corinth will avail them nothing ; and vice versa; but if they should win at both Corinth and Richmond these successes would only serve to protract the war and to exasperate the North, to the sure destruc- tion-‘of Southern institutions, including their very corner stone of African slavery. But while victory to the rebels, East and West, would only prolong the war and aggravate the disasters to our rebellious Southern people of their inevitable humiliation, a Union victory at Richmond and at Corinth will be like cutting both the carotid artery and the jugular vein of the rebellion, when the opening of either will answer the purpose of the executioner. We have the fullest confidence in our brave and superbly appointed armies, East and West, and in the leader of each. We believe that MoeClellan and Halleck are each standing upon the threshold of a victory which will rank in history among those decisive battles of ancient and modern times that have changed the for- tunes of empires, their people and their lan- guages, the advances of civilization, the condi- tions of society and the currents and channels of commerce. The destinies of this country, of this continent, and of Europe to a great extent, are now in the hands of McClellan and Halleck; and at Richmond and at Corinth we anticipate a victory which, in its overwhelming and farreaching consequences, will go down to the future as surpassing that of Arbela, which ended the great Persian empire; or that of Pharsalia, which finished the republic and created the empire of Rome; or that of Tours, ip which Charles Martel destroyed the advanc- ing Saracens in Western Europe; or that of Vienna, from which Sobieski drove beck the Turks to the borders of Asia; or that of Hast- ings, which put an end to the Saxon monarchy of England; or that of Waterloo, which effect- ed -a reconstruction of the political map of Europe; or that of Yorktown, 1781, which secured the independence of these United States. Society, government, politics, parties, every- thing, in fact, of the present and the future, so far as this country is concerned, depends now upon the army of General McClellan and the army of General Halleck. How stupid, puerile and contemptible, in this view, appear all the petty political party schemes and intrigues of our gabbling small beer politicians of Congress, from the Praise-God-Barebones of puritanical abolitionism to the Anacharsis Cloots of the rump of the old dead and rotten democratic party. We turn them all off in disgust, and await the reconstruction of things which is to follow the battles of Richmond and Corinth. Massa Greecey Derenpine Gen. Honter.— If there is any one who introduces‘any new- fangled notion in morals, legislation or religion, that is the man for Greeley. If any one goes for Fourrierism, phalansteries and woman’s rights, Greeley goes for him. If there is any crazy man, with a crack in his head, such an individual is the beau ideal of wisdom in the estimation of Horace Greeley. If anybody goes to the wildest extremes, he delights the heart of the philosopher of the Tribune. If there is any fool or rogue whose mental or moral obliquity is obvious to all men, he be- comes, by the very fact, a special favorite of Massa Greeley. If any one outrages the con- stitution and the laws of the land, or usurps the authority of the government, aiming‘ at revolution, anarchy and confusion, Greeley will write eulogies for him by the yard. He did #0 in the case of Fremont. He does the same now in the case of General Hunter, ‘whose proclamation is too absurd to be fathered even by the Secretary of War. Mean- time we may be permitted to ask what delays the nigger brigade of Greeley, with their red trowsers, white belts and blaek cockades. The Secretary of War is in his favor. Why does he not assume the command, and move on to Richmond, or to Charleston, or to Savannah, or on somewhere? If he will not bestir him- self the war will be over before he will have a chance to take a part in it, Come on, Massa Greeley, come ont SHEET. RT ¢ War Doxs Nor max Senare Pass Tux Tax Su4.!—The Tax bill in the Senate still draws its slow length along. Money is the sinews of war; and, though we are engaged in one of the Greatest wars on record, the national legisla- ture hesitates to adopt a measure which is ab- solutely necessary to sustain the credit of the government and to procure the means of carry- ing on the war in the future. Grave Senators listen to the voice of this interest or that, urging an exemption for itself. But if such appeal were listened to there would be no tax laid on at all. Practically, it amounts to nothing whether the tax is laid upon two hundred articles or twenty, except as to the difficulty of collection. It must ulimately fall upon the labor and the land of the country. There is only this dif- ference between laying it on a large number and upon a small gumber of articles: If it-be laid on a large number of articles, the whole tax may cost twenty-five per cent te collect it; if it is laid ow a small number of articles in general use, it may be collected for five per cent. The difference—twenty per cent—which is serious matter, comes outof the pockets of the taxpayer and the general’ community. England and France—two countries -which have great experience in taxation—have found that the best and cheapest mode of raising money by taxes is to impose them upon as few articles as possible. This will appear obvious upon a little reflection. Let the Seuate, therefore, instead of consum- ing the public time in never-ending and unpro- fitable discussions about the negro, go to work at once and pass a comprehensive tax bill, con- taining a few articles of universal consumption: ‘Thus will the national credit be sustained, and the sinews of war provided for our army and navy, and the nations of Europe will learn to respect us, instead of being invited to intervene in our affairs by the silly and suicidal conduct of both houses of Congress. Srourmuyixe History.—Some time ago we published a very singular order from the War Department, giving all the praise for the reduc- tion and capture of Fort Pulaski to Major General Hunter, now commanding the Depart- ment of the South. The War Department has issued some very extraordinary bulletins, but no other so utterly absurd as this. The bom- bardment of Fort Pulaski was ordered by Gen: Sherman, since recalled from South Carolina, and planned and executed under the superin- tendence of Brigadier General Gilmore, now in this city on leave of absence. Every arrange- ment was made before Gen. Hunter arrived at Hilton Head, and his share in the fight was simply that of a looker-on. Upon what prin- ciple, then, does the War Department give him. the praise of the whole affair? If Gen. Hunter deserves any credit at all, it is. for his silly, illogical proclamation freeing slaves who havenever heard of him, and abolitionizing Georgia, Florida:and South Carolina, when he. has not foothold enough in either of these three States to enforce his martial law or compel the execution of his orders. Or, perhaps, he de- serves credit for giving old trowsers and Tri- bune muskets toa few idle contrabands, who are too lazy to work, too cowardly to fight, too warm to wear trowsers except on Sundays, and too stupid to know which end of the Tribune muskets to present to the enemy. But even these ideas about the proclamation and arming the slaves are not original with Hunter. They belong to poor, crazy Greeley, and, if they are valuable, he. and not Gen. Hunter, should be immediately complimented by another War Department bulletin. The poor fellow is very sure that he will never receive any credit for them from any other quarter. Tax Heroes at WiLLtamssuRG.—We have secn @ letter from Colonel Francis L. Vinton, of the Forty-third New York Volunteers, in which he dis- claims the praise contained in the following report, by the Hgratp’s correspondent, of Hancock's charge at the battle of bree pl Va.:— Our regiments all did nobly, ‘more so than she Fifth Wisconsin and Forty tht ie New 3 ‘York. Colonel Cobb and Major Wisconsin, and Colonels Vinton and York, are deserving of especial Colonel Vinton writes that hia regiment did not participate in the charge referred to, but was, at the time, engaged on the left of the line, in rein- forcement of General Hooker's command. The reporter mistook some other noble regiment for the Forty-third New York. Colonel Vinton’s dis- claimer is prompted by a soldier’s nice honor; but the encomiums on his regiment should not detract from the well-earned credit due to his comrades in Hancock's brigade, Intsegaring Case.—The case of D. H. Craig vs. F.0. J. Smith, in which the plaintiff sues defendant for libe! by publishing @ derogatory article in the Boston Courier in 1869, was commenced in the Superior Court, part 2, before Judge Morrell, a week ago yesterday, and has oc- cupied the Court until this date. The testimony for the defence closed on Friday last, and it is expected the re- butting testimony for the plaintiff will close at noon to-day, when arguments of the case by eminent counsel will be heard, which, it is expected, will be of a racy and amusing character. B.D. Field, Esq., for plaintiff, ‘The defendant, it is expected, will make his own closing argument. New Yor« Catnouic Lirary Association —A grand vocal and instrumental concert for the benefit of this association will be given at Irving Hail, corner of Fif. teenth street and Irving place,on Thursday evening, May 22. Mr. Wm. Berge, the organist of St. Francis Xa- vier church, will conduct the exercises. The enter- tainment will be a rare one; prominent artists will ap- pear, and doubtless the hall will be crowded by the lovers of harmony. Tickets fifty cents. Pearson, of the Ne Forty third ‘New praise. Bmp’s Evg View ov Tax Sourean axp Borner States ap Part of Maxico.—A new bird’s eye view, or pano- rama of the seat of war, has just been published by F. Heppenheimer, of No. 22 North William street. It em- braces all the principal points connected with the present ‘war, both in the United States and Mexico, and as each town is clearly marked in legible characters, it becomes of value to all who are watching the progress of our armies. The map being tinted, makes it less painful to the eye while searching for any particular point, and be- ing published at @ nominal price, brings it within the reach of all. Retnrn of the First Regiment of New York Fire Zouaves. THRY ARS TO BE MUSTERED OUT OF THE SERVICE. In our evening edition yesterday an announcemem, appeared to the effect that the United States transport Blackstone had arrived at this port with the New York Fire Zouavos on board. ‘The statoment caused quite a sensation here, as the return of this splendid fighting corps was wholly unlooked for and unexpected. The surprise became all the greater when {t was known that the Zouaves: were to tasyaterenese the service with ceaers ible. ino trata ae Pe tela ia comma, ne jeu tenant Coleone! immediately repaired to regiment FO. gl! arrangements preliminar, Colonel Teaphine ordered 1 triad on Governor's Island, and the transport tim lately proceeded thither and landed the men. ‘ihe Zouaves appear to be in ex- cotlont health, but somewhat dejected, owing to what they consider bad treatment by the government. Tho cause of the disbandment is said to be the negiect of the Secretary of War to send the regiment in the advance with Genoral McClellan, They complain that they have been compelled totperform an unfair proportion of the drudgery at Newport's Nows, digging gravox, acting as hursos, &c., the greater portion of tho time of thoir en. campment in that region. Many of the Zouayes eluded the sentinels yesterday, and came up to the city in amall boats, to sce their friexds. Thoy rn eg tyre of tua few dave, ud mustered out of the ser IMPORTANT FROM WASHINGTON. - PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT General Hunter’s Order Freeing Slaves Pronounced “ Altogether Void.” The Question of Declaring Slaves Free Reserved by the Pre- sident to Himself. Appeal to Slaveholders to Adopt the Compea- satory Emancipation Policy. Action of the Senate on the Confiscation Bill. etesbilie: Roar ve <0 tha Exectwan ofthe f Fugitive Slave Law, ou. &e., &. A PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 6TATES. Whereas, there appears in the public prints what purports to be a proclamation of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures fol- lowing, to wit:— GENERAL ORDERS—NO, 11, Heapquanters, DePaRtaxrr or Tim Sours, Hiztoy Heap, 8.€., May 9, 1862. The threo States of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, comprising the Military Wepartment of the South, deliberately declarcd themselves no longer under th® protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes: toilitary necessity to declare thera under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862 Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persona in these three States—Geor- gia, South Carolina and Florida—heretofore hold as slaves, are thorefore declared forever froe. Official. DAVID HUNTER, Major General Commanding Ep. W. Surrn, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. - And, whereas, the same is producing some excitement and misunderstanding, ‘ Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim and declare that the government of the United States had no knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such o proclamation, nor has it yet any au- thentic information that the document ia genuine; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor any other commander or persom ‘has been authorized by the government of the : United States'‘to make proclamation declaring * the slaves of any State free, and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration. 1 further make known that whether, it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States free, and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall have becomea ne cessity indispensable to the maintenance of the government to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of command- ers in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies and camps. On the 6th day of March last, by a special message, I recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to be substan- tially as follows:— Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishmens of slavery, giving to such State, in its discretion, com- pensation for the inconveniences, public and private, pro- duced by sueh change of system. The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an au- thentic, definite and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people most immediately interested in the subject mat- ter. To the people of these States I now earnestly appeal. I do not argue. I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times. I beg of you a calm and en- larged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan politics. This proposal makes’ common cause for a com- mon object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it con- templates would come gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in all past times as in the Providence of God it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have ne- glected it. ; In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day ot May, in the year of our Lord one thou- sand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President—Wa. H. Sewarn, Secreta- ry of State. GENERAL NEWS. Wasuinetow, May 19, 1862. SFPECT OF THE PRESIDENT’S PROCLAMATION. ‘The proclamation of the President, indicaced if the despatches to the Heratn last night, in reference to the the Hunter manifesto, has oocasioned universal delight here. Men, who were yesterday filled gloomiest anticipations, now breathe more freely. Mr. Lineoln’s popularity is to-night immevse. His firm- ness, consistency and discretion are the theme of all praises Even tho most timid feo! that the country is sate, and the restoration of the Union sure under his admirable admi- nistration of public affairs. RXECUTION OF THK FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. ‘The President was no sooner relieved of one trouble arising out of the “irrepressible”? nogro question by his proclamation on tho Huyater manifesto tham