The New York Herald Newspaper, December 27, 1862, Page 4

+ bat the Union troops, under Colonel Keyes, vanced from Romney of Christmas morning and | 4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GURDON BENNETT, F EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. ‘@rriCE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. ‘TERMS cash in advance. Money sent by niail will be ‘et the risk of the sender. None but Bank bilis current im Now York taken. THE DAILY HERALD, Turxx cents per copy. THE WERELY HERALD, every Saturday, at Five cents per copy. Annnal subscription price: $2 ‘Three Copies. . 5 Five Copies. 8 ‘Ton Copies... ib Any larger number, addressed to names of subscribers, $2 50 cach. An extra copy will be went (0 every club of tea. Twenty copies, to one address, one year, $25, and ‘any larger number at same price. Au extra copy will be sent to clubs of twenty. These rates make the WRRKLT Hamas the cheapest publication in the country. NO NOTICE taken of anonymous correspondence. We do pot return rejected communications, is tie Volume XXVII.,. ++eM@, 359 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. MIBLO'S GARDEN, Brosdway.—Favst ax Manavesire. w , Broadgay.—I 2 Bo MWALLACK'S THEATRE. Broadgay—ixvisinix Hoe WINTER GARDEN, Brosaway.—Laxts o6 Kiuanszr— Macio Joxe—Harry Man. LAURA KBENE’S THEATRE, Broadway.—Buoxperrs. WEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Yaxxex Jact— Love ix Foun oll amin Doetcuman. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Lirrix Ren Rivina’ Hoov—Tax Syexs—MoruER Goust—Baxvit Horr, GEEMAN OPERA HOUSE. Broadway,—Nozzt pi F1Gano. THBATRE FRANCAIS, Niblo’ Mvax pe Faantiz—Un Texox Li Saloon, Broadway.—La R—UN Homme pu Sup. BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway._Drirs- Raeu's Perrorwing Brags—Giant Giri, 4c., at al hours, Couinex BaWS—Day and Bveuing. SRYANTS’ MINSTRELS’ Mechanics’ Hall, 472 Broad- Sere niorcan Sones, BunLesques, Dances, &¢.—B14cK WOOD'S MINSTREL HALL, 514 Bros¢way.—Braiorian Sencs, Danoxs, £0.—Dixoray. BUCKLEY'S MINSTRELS, Palace of Music, Fourteenth street.—Erurorian SonGs, Dances, &¢.—Lucretta Borsa. BROADWAY MENAGERIE, Broadway.—Livixc Wip Animas. AMERICAN MUSIC HALL. No. ists, Pawtomimas, BuRLesquxs, 4c. P CABINET OF WONDERS, 563 Broadway.— Opea trom 10 A. M. till 10 P.M i HOOLEY'S OPERA HOU! Brooklyn. —Eraiortas Sorcs, Dances, Bertesques ges + ATHENAUM, Brookiyn.—Gno. Caristr’s Minstress. CAM: 'S MINSTRELS, = : Now York, Saturday, Dec mber a7, 18662. 444 Broadway.—Bat- pera House, Chicago. eed = THE SITUATION. Our latest despatches from the army on the Rap- pshanndck report everything perfectly unchanged for the last twenty-four hours. Our treops are putting ep wooden huts for shelter against the in- clemency of the weather. All the sick ase being carried to Falmouth. i A despatch from Fortress Monroe informs us of another skirmish \with the rebels on the Black- water on Wednesday. It appears that Lieutenant Colonel Stietsell, of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, me@ the enemy at Joiner'’s bridge, four miles above Franklin. Ye drove the enemy's pickets on this side of the river, capturing four of their pickets, one cavairy man and horse, and three infantry soldiers and their arms. Colonel Stietsell’s advance, with their carbineers, under Lieutenant John 8. Ropes, first engaged the ene” my at short range. Finally, discovering the enemy in superior numbers above and below them on the Fiver, with his inferior force of four small squa- Grons in peril of being’ flanked, Colonel Stietsell withdrew at once, and without loss. The electio .8f members of Congress for East- ern Virginia was the cause of @ brisk skirmish at Smithfield, near Suffolk, between Lieutenant Colo- nel Onderdonk, of the New York Mounted Rifles, and a party of the rebel cavalry. Lieutenant Co- lonel Onderdonk took the ballot boxes to Smith- field in charge of a squad of his men, and pro- ceeded with the rest of his command to Windsor. Learning that the rebels had left the place but s short time before, he proceeded cautiously towards the Isle of Wight, and when about e miles out came up with them. He sent a aoa them from his howitzers, and they responded with six- pounders. After a short skirmish with the rebel infantry, with two pieces of artillery and some cay" alry, Col. Onderdonk retired. The rebels attempt- od to surround him, and at one time were only one handred and fifty yards in his rear, whereupon he suddenly wheeled his command about and fired a volley, which emptied twenty of the rebel saddles iu quick time. The skirmishing continued for six miles. The news from the Shenandoah valley repre- | sents that the rebels have evacuated Winchester and have gone towards Staunton, destroying the railroad as they went. The destitution at Win- cheater i# reported as fearful. General Jones, with 2,500 cevels, had occupied it for some time past; took possession of the town. The bark Kate Stamler, Captain Fish, which arrived at this port last night from Pensacola, brings 288 bales of cotton, cargo of schooner Jefferson Davis, captured Sept. 17, by United States bark Wm. G. Anderson. The cotton is in 4 charge of Acting Master 8. Withington, who comes passenger by the Stamler. She hag also on board 140 casks returned whiskey, 7,000 thirty-two pounder shot and one large rifled gun. The rebel schooner Retribytion ran the blockade at Wilmington November 24, and arrived at St. Thomas December 7. Sve bad 370 barrels epirits turpentine, 100 bales cotton and 100 barrels rosin. She had a crew of 15 men, with three guns in the hold, and was allowed to enter in the customs the She was commanded ousigned to Lamb, Ball same as ony other vessel. by Captain Parker, and & Co. The Boropa, at Halifax, telegrapbe European news to the Lith inst.—one week later. The British newspaper comments on American affuirs are generally of an unimportant character. The London Shipping Gazette notices the “ con- cry (ration” of Englieh North American war ships termuda. The writer ttates that Admiral Nive had been“ instrocted to protect British wy ela from “ ontrages’’ at the hands of federal crv wees lying in Britieh waters. (he Bogtich abolitionists were making strenuous & oxertions to manufactare foreign apport for the emancipation movement of Presideat Lincoln, os inaugurated and announced ia his late proclama- tion. It ia anid that. the French government had re- ceived @ery unfavorable news from Mexico. Large reinforcements for the Mexican army were called for, under the cover of establishing ® reserve force in the island of Martinique. General Prim had delivered a lengthy speech to. the Spanish Cortes in defence of his action -in withdrawing the Spanish treops from Mexico. In the course of his remarks the General said he had letters from Admiral La Graviere, of the French Ravy, stating that Napoleon would support the Archduke Maximillian of Austria as King of Mexico. He had also letters from the Archduke which lead him to suppose he would accept of the throne. In conclusion, General Prim prophesied that the French expedition to Mexico weuld not Produce the ‘‘desired result.” MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. The “Europa, from Queenstown on the Mth of December, reached Halifax on the 25th instant, on her voyage to Boston. Her news is one week later than the advices of the Scotia, Consols closed in London on the 13th instant at 9234 8 9224. The bullion in the Bank of Eng- land had decreased by £172,000 sterling. The Liverpool cotton market was buoyant, and prices advanced from one-half to three-fourths of a penny per pound on middling aud lower qualities. The stock on hand amounted to two hundred and fifty- four thousand bales. On the 15th instant the market was quiet at the advance. Flour was steady, ata decline, in Liverpoo) on the 13th in+ stant. The Liverpool provision market was in- active, with prices looking downwards. a The Atlantic Telegraph Company had held a vety encouraging meeting in London, at which the plan for raising £600,000 sterling for the purpose of laying a new cable was submitted to the assem- blage. £75,000 sterling had been subscribed. The new eapital stock will be issued in shares of the value of £5 sterling each. The Cardinal Arch- biskop of Paris had gone to Rome to explain, it was said, to thé Pope Napoleon's views with respect to the concessions required from the Papal government towards Italy. It was theught the Czar of Rassia would soon declare St. Petersburg afree port, The Italian Parliament had reassem- * bled. The Premier, Farinj, explained the home policy of the government, but he did not give any very encouraging assurances regarding his position towards Napoleon and the Pope. Garibaldi’s eldest gon was mortally wounded in a duel with the Italian who arrested his father after the affair at Apromonte. The Colonel was also wounded se- verely. Advices from Pekin, China, of the 14th ' of August state that the cholera had abated in the capital, after sweeping away an immense number of the inhabitants. Among the victims was Mon- signeur Borgnier, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shanghae, who had gone 6 Pekin on a mission to the court. The Hon. Anson Burlingame, Ameri. can Minister, had taken up his residence at Pekin, where he has rented @ house for the legation. The modern leviathan of the deep--the ship Great Eastern—is again in hot water, which is certainly out of her element. Mr. William H. Thompson, of the United States Marshal's office, has libelled her at the instance of Mr. N. P. Waring, counsel for claimants, for work and labor done. The Connecticut Legislature has passed a law authorizing the soldiers of that State inthe army to vote. °F The names of the following gentlemen have been announced as likely to compose Governor Seymour's staff:— Frankia Towossud, of Albany iapector Coueral, George W. Mclean, of this city, Quartermaster General. e Bho J. Waterbury, of this city, Judge Advovate mz ‘Quackenbush, of Albany, Surgeon General. William Duncan, of this city, Paymaster General. John F. Seymour, the Governor's brother, will be bis private secretary. Mrs. Major Belle Reynolds, of Wlinois, partici- pated in a review of the Union troops af Lagrange, Tenn. She wore a military ~costume and rode a spirited charger. It has been ascertained that less than a thousand men are wanting to fill the quota of Massachusetts. under the two last calls of the President, and it has also been ascertained that nearly five thousand are wanting to fill the vacancies caused by Gov. Andrew’s men going to the war the wrong way, and who Bave been reported as deserters. The elections of four of the Congressional dele- gation of Missouri will be contested before the next Housé of Representatives. Ex-Govetnor Thomas Holiiday Hicks, of Mary- land, has been brought forward for the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the death of Hon. Alfred A. Pearce. Winter wheat in many parts of the West is represented as having been considerably injured by an insect, in consequence of the opens mn. The Board of Supervisors met at three ck yesterday, when a communication was received from the Mayor im reference to the appointing of twenty-one marshals in place of constables, in obedience to the legislative act of the 24th of | April last. The names of those mentioned in the Mayor’s communication were rejected, and the | Board adjourned to meet on next Tnesday at three o'clock. The Board of Aldermen met yesterday at one | o'clock, yet little business was transacted. The claim of Colonel Murphy, of the first division of the Sixty-ninth, for the $10,000 for the volunteers, passed by this Board and amended by the Coun- | cilmen, came up again and was referred to the Committe® on Nationa) Affaire. The Colone) is waiting here from the seat of war (though his soul is in arms and eager for the fray’’) merely to ascertain the decision on this matter, which is of great interestto the men under his command snd their Mmilies. The energy with which the Committee on National Affaire prose- cute their labore gives sesuranee that no time will be unnecesserily loet hy them in disporing of the matter. An adjourned meeting of the Board of Council men was held last evening. A communication, numerously signed by the asb and dirt cartmen, was received, remonstrating against the practice of cleaning the etreete by sub-contract. Referred to the Committee on Streets. A rete) sion in favor of donating the sum of $3,000 to the Mana- gers of the Union ge Asylom, for the educa- tion and anaintenance of the children of volun- teers, was referred to the Committee on Finance. ‘Phe majority and minority reports of the commit- | tee in reference to the Sixth Avenue Railroad were laid over and made the special order for Mongay evening. After traneactihg ® large amount of | routine business the Beard adjourned until Monday evening at four o'clock. The money market woe without change yesterday—six per cent for call loans. Stocks were dul] and rather jower asarule, Gold fel) to 131%, closing at 11%. Kxchange e dull at 146 @ 34, Cotton advanced yesterday to 66350. a 676. for mid- dling, with sales and resalee reported the extent of 1,600 bales. There was more activity im breadstuffe, which were quoted somewhat firmer, and ices ip provisions, prices ot which exhibited no important altera- tion, Groceries were inactive, as likewise were nearly all other articles, save hay, hops and tallow, which wero. in fair request. No general revival of animation in trade is looked for until the holiday. season Bhafl have passed by. There were very light freight engagements reported. Government contracts for barrelled beef and old smoked bacon wore awarded at about current market prices, ‘The Cabiact—Fhe Ohanges Demanded for am Ediciont Administration. The late Cabinet imbroglio at Washington has apparently been adjusted upon the extra- ordinary compromise of leaving the elements of the quarrel exaetly as they were. A recon- ciliation of this sort, however, is at beat but s temporary armistice. It-cannot last, it can be productive of no substantial reform; but white it continues it will continue to aggravate the discords which produced the late disturbance. In a word, without at least » partial reconstruc- tion of the Cabinet, President Lincoln will fail in the all important object of a vigorous, effi- cient and syocessful administration. He has had a favorable opportunity for adopting the decisive and comprehensive action of General Jackson in a complete ministerial reconstruction; but in these stormy times the great object in view might be gained by simply changing the heads of the three departments directly associated with the pro. secution of the war—namely, the Treasury, the War and the Navy Departments. The able, sagacious and conservative stagésman at the head of the State Department bas-given ample satisfaction to the oountry. He may be wisely and profitably retained as the vigilant, faithful and trusty, guardian, of our) foreign affairs: The present Postmaster General, too, in his vo- cation has proved himself an acceptable public servant. AsJfor the Departinent of the Interior, any honest and intelligent man, who will*be content with a good report of his management of that department, will answer. Nor need the Attorney General be disturbed, as he is a Ca- binet make-weight of but littlepractical impor. tance in the matter of the vigorous prosecu- tion of the war. e P But Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury: bas had entirely too many irons in the fire—too many financial irons and tdo many political irons, He has thus fail- ed as a financier and failed as a manag- ing politician, He hag been thoroughly tried in the furnaces and found wanting, and ought to be removed. Nor need we here re- peat the evidences which the experience of many military failures, botches and blunders have furnished of the misdireoted zeal of the lawyer at the head of the War Office, and of the drowsy imbecility of the venerable Rip Van Winkle at the head of the Nayy Department. Each of these men has been and is an incubus upon the administration, obnoxious to the pre- dominant public sentiment of the loyal States, and both of them ought to be dismissed. . Nor do we th propose that the present Cabinet shall at least be partially pulled down without proposing to rebuild the fabric with’ stronger and more enduring materials. In the place of the present radical Me- phistopheles at the head of the Treasury, we would appoint some such man as Samuel Hooper, of Massachusetts, a practical financier, and, though? d republican, not an intriguing political Marplot. In the place of the present indefatigable but bluadering and incompetent lawyer at the head of the War Department we would put the calm, capable, experienced and comprehensive military mind of General Mc- Clellan. At the desk vacated by Mr. Secretary Welles we would place some such thoroughly trained and experienced. professional man in naval affairs as Admiral Porter or Admiral ‘Dupont. : We believe that, with his Cabinet thus recon. stituted, President Lincoln would soon realize the important fact that the deplorable failures of this war may be. charged upon an in- competent and discordant | Cabinet, and that the secret of military success lies in an efficient, capable and united. ad- ministration. All other expedients to se- eure “military success” will, we fear, prove deplorable failures while this expedient of a reorganization of things at the fountain head of all our disappointments remains untried. The government may send out formidable ex. peditions by sea, but the first reports from them will be the sinking of their rotten ships, furnish- ed by heartless speculators and contractors. Im- mense armies may be advanced upon the ragged battalious of the rebellion, but they will be frittered away in the circuitous, combinations of Stanton e Halleck. Nor can we hope for any improvement in our crippled finances and depreciated paper curreney. While co-operating with the present radical blunderers of the War and the Navy Departments we® shall still be subject to the financial makeshifte and Cabinet and Congressional party intrigues of Mr. Secre- tary Chase. In one word, the great want of the adminis- tration is reconstruction. As the same causes produce the same effects, we may expect the same, results’in the future that we have experi- enced in the past from the same controling agencies of this. war. Above all things, we want some such recofistruction of the Cabinet as | this which we have indicated. With this reor- ganization and a new military programme the rebellion will soon be put down; but without this work of reform we fear that this exhausting \ civil war, which was the legacy of James Bu- chanan to President Lincoln, will be transmit ted as Mr. Lincoln's legacy to the next adminis- tration. ‘ AsrounpiIng Arwy Fravps.—-We publish this | morning a highly important account of the of- ficial investigations by a government commis- sioner into a series of systematic and astounding army frauds. For the last two months Colonel H. 8. Olcott has been pursuing his inquiries, and the result is that he bas aceumulated a mass of evidence that wil) astonish the whole country. Such @ system of bold and outrage- ous swindling has net been heard of in a long series of years, and the probability is that no parallel at all can be found for these frauds. During the Crimean war we were amazed to hear of the giguntic frauds committed on the Ruseian government, and .the Italiam war de-, veloped similar frauds on the Austrian govern- ment. We thought these were immense for those countries of the Old World; but we never supposed that those outrageous peculations would be altogether outdone in’ dur own country. The facts which we publish to-day are bu, the prologue tothe play. When the proper time arrives the people shall have the whele Mery laid before them. Extraordinary as is the extent of these frauds in this city, where there | are #0 many rogues and schemers, infamous contractors and other ebharpers, it is understood that they are fer more extensive in the West. In the face of these startling developments we have a statement from the Treasury Depart- ment that the debt of the nation is eleven hun- dred millions of dollars. But if these be but the commencement of the exposure of such gigantic frauds on the government, it is clear that Mr. Secretary Chase, in a few qonths; will NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1862. have to revise his statement and double tha’ emount which he has put dows as the debt of the Union. ola ‘We bear from Washington that President Lincoln has ordered the appointment of seventy” three additional paymasters for the army, and that ho has also ordered the diamissal of twelve paymasters for dishonesty, incapacity, want of energy, and other reasons too numerous to mention beré. We naturally expect an immo- diate improvement as regards this branch of the service, and shall hope to hear no more oom- plaints as to whole regiments having remained for months unpaid, their families suffering ma- terially thereby, and the soldiers themselves -feeling great inconvenience from the detention of moneys due them. {t is, to aay the least, a strange result that inefficient and incapable paymasters should bave been allowed to remain for months in office; and We: contend that the blame lies upon the chief of the Treasury De- partment, whose duty it is to soe that the money for the pay of the army is provided at the pro- per time, and also that it be duly paid eut. It is nat alone sufficient to:find'the means; it is the : paramount duty of the chief of the Department to ascertain, beyond all doubt, that the claims to be satisfied have been duly attended to. In- efficient paymasters should be detected at once and replaced. There can be no excuse for their continuance’ in office. ‘All large establishments must have a con- trelling element upon which the regular rou- tine depends more or less. For example, the | Hexat» employs a vast. number of persons, all of whom are paid regularly each week. Were the cashier of this establishment to neglect for a single occasion his duty the proprietor would at once be made aware of the felingency and all errors would be immediately rectified. In like manner other vast establishments in New York are conducted. In one and all @ supervision, keen and constant, exists, and errors or omissions are at once detected. Just so should all the departments at Washing- ton be Cqpducted, but more especially should that of thé Treasury be strictly administered. It is the bounden duty of Mr. Chase to see that our soldiers are paid at stated intervals. It is his duty to provide the moneys at those dates, | FBS Abetttion Congress Going to Ferdi. tien. Sinoe the present Congress assembled, which fe now over three weeks, its time has bea'a in fruitless and frivolous Gisca'wions having no bearing upon the issue; and @ bill bas been even introduced by the Chairmen of the Commitice of Ways and Means violatingthe public faith by proposing’ to sub- atitute depmeciated paper for gold in the pay- ment of the hiterest of bonds already iasued on the pledge thatthe interest was to be paid in specie, Tq@-crown all, it is proposed in the samo bill to issue new bonds to the amount of a billion of dollars, the interest to be paid in this paper money; while at the same time the sotion of the people in the late elections is treated with contempt, and a majority in Con- grees expresses its determination, in defiance of the popular will, to go through with its re- volutionary programme. In view of the na- tional disaster at Fredericksburg, which its ac- cursed policy has produced, it perseveres in its crimes. Let it, by all means, go ahead. It will soon be brought up with a short turn. There are’ certain: periods of history which aro eminently distinguished as taarked by the singular exhibition of madnoss, folly anil crime made by bodies of mon having the title of eon- ventions, parliaments or congress@: The firat of | these exhibitions of disgraceful legisiation to which we shall refer is known as the Rump “Parliament, the Speaker of which \was the no- torious Prais8-God-Barebones. The next record of the madmen who figured in history and ex- hibited the follies of a so-called parliamentary assembly is’ the famous body known as the Jacobin Convention of France. at the head of which was the notorious Robespierre. The first of these specimens of fanaticism and madness belongs to the seventeonth century; the second appeared at the close of the eighteenth; and now, in our own day, which is the close of the nineteenth oentury, we have a Congress in this country which is tending tn the same direction, and which, were its existence not cut short by the limitations of law on the 4th of March next, would rival in folly, fanaticiam and despotic oppression its pro- totypes in England and France. There is one thing in which tt materially differs from the Rump Parliament and the French Con- and it undoubtedly is as much his duty to asce tain that the moneys have been duly paid. There can exist no more certain method of causing disaffection among our troops than keeping back their pay. It is dishonest, as the government is well aware that many of the men engaged have families dependent upon their pay for support. .T'o keep baok that pay is to injure not only the soldier who is bravely risking his life for his country’s sake, but, at the same time, it is causing his wife and children to feel want and distress, all of which might be avoided by a strict attention to the simple duties of the Treasury Department. This id no light matter to be disposed ‘of with a promise that all will be right before long. All must.be right constantly. The peo- ple are awakening to the fact that great and most deplerable errors and frauds have been com- mitted by the departments; that carelessness— guilty carelessness—has been too common, and those at the heads of the departments in ques- tion will find they will be held responsible by the people for all future shortcofnings, We are inclined to submit to no more such errors and remissness as were exposed by the late investigations at Washington; to insist, in the name of the peoplé, upeg a strict fulfilment of duties, and to blame unreservedly all persons who, having an order to give or transmit, do | not ascertain that it reaches its destination | and is dulycarried into effect. There must be a responsible person, and there must be no attempts at shifting the responsibili- ty. The duties of all government offices are clearly defined. Those entering upon those’ oftices must be prepared to attend to their duties actively and faithfully, else the people will hold the heads of the departments as of- fending through their dependents, and the Pre- sident himself as guilty towards the people through the shortcomings of his chief officers. We must have unity of government, fall and complete action, or we will fail; and people are determined they will not fail, and will hold | responsible those who stand between them and | final success. * { We must sweep aside all inefficient or incapa- uble persons now in the employ of the govern- ment. This is no period admitting of delay. No time can he allowed a shoricomer for im- | proveatent. We must havé at once good and serviceable men in all the branches of govern- mental service, and they may easily be found: | A strict supervision will put un end to whole- sale abuses such as have existed up to the pre- | sent time; and, in the name of the people, who have givén their lives and treasure without stint, we insist upon that supervision. We de- mand the punishment of those who defraud the government or its agents; we demand that for the future all swindling in the matter of furnishing stores, uniforms. arms or ships for the use of the governmeni he sevgrely punished, and that competent and, above all, responsible persons be appointed to see that these matters are duly attended to. To conclude, we demand from the administration a show of earnest determination of purpose, such as will satisfy the people that their cause is not | lost, is mot trified with, and will give them the patience and couragato endure the trials whieh they are called upon to endure ere the sucvess- ful termination of the present contest may be ,tebieved. We want efficient paymasiers, ef- ficient enbordinate officers of every description; we want eficient and responsible heade of de partments, efficient and untrammelled generals. | We have efficient armies, and we want ef- ficient officers. All this we want and will have, as we are determined the Union shal) not | perish. The abuses we have above referred to | have been endured for almost two years. The | time for forbearamee has passed. Let the ad- ' \ | ministration attend to ite duties. The people | demand thie. i GmxenaLsHir—-ArTer a Faswione—It is a re- markable and not very gratitying spectacle to , ‘see our generals, after a victory or defeat, rnsh- | ing to Washington for fresh orders. General | Foster has just been there for some such pur- pose, and this after proving to the world that | he is an abler strategist than his military eupe- | rior, Who professes to be a master of the science. | He obeyed orders in advancing upon Golds- | boro without sufficient force to hold it. He has been to Washington, we presume, to ask the vention. These bodies were vigorous—tho ma- jority in Congress is utterly imbecile. The radicals exhibit the disposition to ya be all the crimes and follies of their predecessors in other countries; but they have neither the intellect, the genius nor the courage to make them formidable after all. All the rascality, the peculation, the fraud and fanaticism which have ever characterized former bodies of falsely catled representative men seem cumulated, piled up and aggravated, in the present abolition Congress. This is ex- hibited ia the devotion of the radicals to the nigger and their determination to sacrifice the country and all its interests to the odorifcrous woolly head. In political and financial frenzy they emulate the Jacobin Convention, and seem, like it, bent upon the ruin of the country by creating a quasi system of assignats and by every other species of wild extravagance and violent aspersions of better men. They may be most appropriately called the rump of a Congress; for their existence is defined, their acts are repudiated by the eountry, and a bet- ter set of men have already been elected in their stead, ready to take their place. It was indeed high time that this abolition Con- gress, composed of men many of whom are fit only for the lunatic asylum, should be dethroned from their false position, and -that their crimes and madness should be finally re- |! buked. This has been done, as it were by aeclamation,.by an indignant and outraged people. Now that they have but # brief space in which to flourish and to continue to play their “fantastic tricks before high Heaven,” there is nothing too mad, too foolish, too destructive, criminal and ruinoys to the country which they are not likely to attempt. The only hope of rescue from their wild and insane legislation is to be looked for in the firmness and determina- tion of the President to check their schemes by interposing his veto. A. foretaste of their insane purposes has a'ready been given to the country in the bill to destroy what remains of the vitality of the currency by drowning it be- neath the overwhelming deluge of an unlimited issue of irredeemable paper. This is out-Jaco- bining the wildest Jacobins of the Robespierre epoch. What else may be expected of this Con- gress may be surmised from this initiatory step, Their responsibility js fearful. Indirectly, if not directly, as the pfotective power provided by the constitution to aid the Executive by their wisdom and contro! its Cabinet by their pru- dence, they may be held responsible for all the crimes, mismanagements and long delays of this fratricidal war. They have turned an emeute which might have keen put down’ in ao few weeke into a long, protracted war of years, to which there seems no end. They have fe- stroyed, or at least depreciated and nearly ruined, the currency of the people, the wages of the industrious and Jaborious population. De- feat, disgrace and ruip have followed jn their footsteps. Millions of money have been cast away to the dogs, expended idly. use- lessly and to no purpose. Above a hundred thousand precious lives .have been eut off and lost through their mad course of action and miserable legislation. Ae many thousands of brave men, The bone and sinew of the coun- try, have been sacrificed, mftilated and crip- pled for life. Such is their record, eneb is the horrible reenls of their incompetency, of their imbecility, of their madness and fanati- cism. They will soon quit their abused sents, fellowed by the groans of widowed fa- milies, tears of helpless orphans: leaving behind them the record of gold at thirty-three per cent premium, paper depre- | ciated to the same extent, exehanger at one hundred and fifty, @ flood of irredeemable issues, enormous prices of the necessaries of | life, an enormous weight of taxation, heca- tombe of murdered men, thousands upon thou- ‘sands of pensioners, an expenditure without bounds, thrown away, and swindled away, with | armies and contractors yet unpaid, amid all this wild extravagance. Such a collection of imbecile. miserable | fanatics, fanetics and madmen, now adjeurned | over for the holidays, affords the practical spec- | tacle of Milton's imaginary Pardemonium. | Tus Great Evexts or THe Year 1N Twanry |, Coueuns or THE HenaLy—We begin this morn. War rtment for the reinforcements that | should have’ preceded, and not followed, the | movement. Pretty stra this which keeps the generals entrusted with the execution of its plans trotting backwards and forwards for in- atrnotions and aid. This table will occupy about twenty columns ing the publication of our chronological table } of the events of the year now nearly closed, | of the Hxraxp, and by pfinting « portion of it every day for the next week we shall be able | stupendous proportions or 80 involved the des tinies of the world as that now raging at the South. In our table we.shall give a condensed, exact and impartial histogy of this rebellion; and consequently the issues of the Heratp for the coming week will be even more than ordi- narily valuable for preservation and reference. Besides this, those persons who file and bind the Heratp—and almost every-person does so dur- ing these momentous times—will find this ohro- nology useful as an index to the contents of the Herat during the past year. We advise our readers, therefore, te be careful to obtain and retain copies of those issues of the Henan in which we shall: pubiish our chronological teble for 1862. Coo! for the Army. - Until Soyer published his famous treatise om army cooking but little attentiox ‘been paid to a subject which bas dince acquiged great im* portance in the eyes of military men abroad. ‘The first’ result of that well timed and philan- thropic publication was to procure an invitation for its author, then chef at the London Reform Club, to proceed to the Crimea to demonsttate practically the recommendations contained im his pamphlet. Almost every one is familiar with the remarkable results achieved by this new reformer. Not only was the rate of mor- lity-from disease greatly diminished in the camps, but a saving of food was effected to the extent of nearly twenty-five per cent. That is to say, parts of the animals slungbvered for the use of the army, and which had acen previ- ously thrown away, were converted into nutri- tious soups, or, with the aid of a few simple condiments, into palatable dishes, thus effecting the eonomy specified and contributing mate- rially to the comfort and well being of the soldier. . It is a well ascertained fact that the rations provided for our troops are the,best and moat abundant supplied to any army in the world. Owing, however, to mismanagement of one kind or other, but more especially to the absence of any properly organized system of cooking, they are, at times, aubjected to great and un- necessary privations. We know nothing more * calculated to enfecble the morale as well as the physique of the soldier than such a state of things, and it is the less e#@usable, seeing that Congress has made stch“&mple provision for his comfort, and that we have for ourguidance Soyer’s successful experiments in the Crimea. ‘The subject, we are glad to see, has not alto- gether escaped the attention of those entrusted with the‘care of the health.of our soldiers; for we have. now before us‘s report, embodying some valuable suggestions. in reference to it, addressed to the Surgeon General, by Dr. Vol- lum, one of the medical inspectors of the army. He states that in the daily discharge of his’ duties he has-been struck with the wretchedly bad, irregular and wasteful miner of cooking amongst the men, and, above all, by the ha- rassing interruptions to a soldier’s rest from the constantly recurring necessity that com- pels each man or squad of men, marches, drills or terms of guard and pickeg duty, to prepare—whether they be soaking wet of faint from heat—their own food. For- tified in his convictions of thenormous drafg which such a condition of must make on the vitality of the army by the results of ac- tual observation, he set himself to discover whether some practical mode could net be found of mitigating, if not removing, at ence the evils complained of. After a careful study of the subject and of the difficulties with which it was surrounded, he hit upon a plan which, without interfering ma- terially with existing regulations or over- whelming the operations of the department to which it may be attached, will, he thinks, effect agreat and beneficial reform in the present state of things. Its leading features may be thus briefly deseribed:—He proposes that a medical officer, with the necessary rank, shall be detailed by the Surgeon General as the ad- ministrative head of the new army cuisine, and shall have under him the following subordi- nates:—1. An inspector of cuisine for each corps throughout the army, with the pay and rank of a captain of cavalry, said inspector to be chosen solely in’consideration of his past experience in the culinary art, and to be responsible for the in- struction of all his subordinates within the command to which he is attached. 2, An as- sistant surgeon and sub-inspector fer each brigade to superintend the cooking department? In the case of commands serving deparately a medical officer of the same rank is to be de- tailed for duty as sub-inspector. 3. Sergeants of cuisine, enlisted with special reference to their theoretical and practical knowledge, one of whom is to be under the orders of such sub- jnspector. 4. For extra duty it is recommended that cooks be selected among the enlisted men, n the proportion of two to each company, the men thus employed to be entitled to additional — pay. There are many localities, the Doctor thinks—and he therein coincides. with a sugges- tien of our own—where the male negre could, with great success and convenience, be substi- tuted for the soldier. Sueb are the details of a plan which seems to us easy of organization, admirably adapted to accompligh the objects in view, and offering the advantage of jointly enlisting in its service the two branches of science which are most con- servative of the health and comfert of the sol- dier. In providing for our troops warm cloth- ing and abundant rations the government does not acquit itself of all-the duties which it owes. to the brave men who are fighting to uphold it, It is bound, in addition, to give them their fooa im such a form as is best calculated to preserve their strength and sustain them against the attacks of disease. As a matter og economical consideration, the plan suggested by Dr. Vollum will soon repay its expenses. It will diminish those of the military hospitals, . enable many who are now enfeebled from the want of proper nourishment’to do their fair | turn of military duty and reduce the list of absentees from the army. For these reasons we heartily endorse his recommendations, and trust that neither red tapeism nor official indifference will prevent their speedy adoption. Fire in Boston, &c. Bostox, Deo. 26, 1862. A fire thie afternoon caused considerable damage to granite building Nos. 221 and 223 Washington street, Alden & Vose) picture frame dealers; Jesse Briggs, photo. gtapher, and J, B.: Bolton, engravor, occupants of the had stocks: ally destroyed. wine? bs Caaniee’ot the Uinton Raok, Haverbity was drowned yesterday while skating,