The New York Herald Newspaper, February 22, 1863, Page 4

NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, <8. W. COKNER OF FOLTON AND NASSAU STS. ‘cash in advagee. Mouoy sent vy mail will be acthos Vof Ove sender, Nous but bank bilis current in ALD, Tumee cents per copy. Saturday, at Dive cents ion price:— ial Bubse! & xtra copy will be sent to every club of ; i one address, one year, $25, and :2° uumber at same price. An extra copy will be These rates maka the WRRxLy putica‘ion in the country. umox, every Wednesday, at Five cents annum to any part of Great Britain, y part of the Continent, both to include < twenty. avronsiA Eprno, en the Ist, 11th and 2ist of Ld, at Dx cents per copy, or $3 per annum. exeanne to a limited number, will be inserted on the American question, but regretted that ministers had not joined France in the “attempt, however hopeless, to effect an armistice,” aa the cessation of hosti would lead ‘the two parties to reflect on the ries and hopelessness of the war in which they were engaged." The United States Consul at Cardiff, Wales, re- ports that there was no Confederate vessel lying in that port, as reported. The London Times states that it was reported that certain parties in Paria had proposed @ rebel loan of five millions of pounds sterling, seoured on the basis of cotton at five pence per pound, the | holder having the option of exchanging his cotton for Confederate bonds at seventy, bearing eight per cent interest. CONGRESS. In the Senate yesterday, a memorial from citi- zens of New York, asking for the establishment of | asubmarine telegraph from Fortress Monroe to Galveston, was presented. Bills amendatory of the act to equalize the grade of line officers of the navy, dividing Michigan into two judicial districts, and granting lands to Kansas for railroads and telegraphs, were passed. Billa to incorporate the National Academy of Sclences, and granting @ right of way through the military reserves of Kan- sas, were introduced. Mr. Powell offered a resolu- tion that a committee of three be appointed to {nvestigate the facts in reference to the ar- «uy tlenanp, and in the European and Califor - Y CORRESPONDENCE, containing import- solicited from ang quarter of the world; if : be iberally paid for. sg- Our Foaron Cor- RY PARTICULARLY REQUESTKD 10 SEAL ALL LER+ SAGRS SENT US. tuken of anonymous correspondence. We diy got rats a veetod communication: Wetame XAVII, No. 52 AMUSEMENTS TO..MORROW EVENING. NIHLOS GARDBN, Broadway.—SataveLa, )& 5 THEATRE, Broadway.—Henaterra, GARDEN, Broadway.—Ixgoxar. KEXNE'$ THEATRI oe Ose Witn 1 Broadway.—Lorreny N Locks. 'Y THEATRE, Bowery.—Epcuwonta Bess JeRseY—M. ano Mus. Perae Wate. VHEATRE, Bows JACBETH—=VRENCH Spr. 3 OPERA HOUSE, No. 435 Broadway.—Macic eth FRANCAIS, Niblo’s Saloon—Penit EN LA AMERICAN MUSEUM, Broadway.—Minxte Nutt, Liviwa Hirrororamus, a., at all Atternoon and Evening. MINSTRELS, Mechanica’ Hall, 472 Broad- jOriAN SONGS, BorLEsques, Dancns, &C.—BLace AML, GERIE, Broadway.—Livixc Wine | ALEMMANTS—COMIC MULES, &C. No. 444 Brondway.—Bat uxts, UABINET 01 vom 1A. M, till 1 S OPERA HOUSE, % Burixsaurs, NDERS, 563 Broadway. | Brooklyn.—Ermorian New York, Sunday, February 22, 1863 THE SITUATION. jo news to-day from the Army of the ¥rom the South we have an interesting niary upon the diplomatic correspondence of M. Srouyn de Lhnys and Mr. Seward in the ‘4. The plans of the French Min- diation and peace are pretty roughly Richmond par ister for > MISSEREL HALL, 514 Broadway.—Ermortax | rc. rest, imprisonment and release of D. A. Ma- hony, J. A. Mullen and Andrew J. Duff. Laid over. Mr. Powell also gave notice that he should, at an early day, offer a resolution for a committee to in- vestigate the conduct of General Gilbert in re- cently dispersing » convention in Kentucky. A resolution to print ten thousand extra copies of the Currency bitl was referred. The bill for the dis- charge of State prisoners and authorizing the sus- pension of the writ of habeas corpus was taken up, and an angry discussion ensued between Messrs. Wilson, of Massachusetts, and Powell, ef Ken- tucky. An executive session was held, and the Senate adjourned. In the House of Representatives, a Committee of Conference was asked of the Senate on the dis- agreeing amendments to the Finance bill. The Post Office Reform bill was next considered, an amendment that all soldiers in camp or hospital shall receive and transmit letters free of postage was adopted, and the bill passed by a vote of 72 against 56. The Ways and Means Committee reported amendments to the Internal Tax bill, and Tuesday next was assigned for the considera- tion of the subject. The Senate’s amendments te the Post Route bill were agreed to. The Senate bill to prevent correspondence with rebels was passed, also the Senate bill to punish bribery. The Senate bill authorizing the issue of letters of marque was then taken up and discussed till the adjournment. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. The Canada, from Queenstown on the 8th inst., reached Halifax yesterday, on her voyage to Bos- ton. Her news is one week later. Cotton was dull and prices weak on the 7th inst, in Liverpool. Private circulars quote Ame- rican descriptions at from one-half of a penny to one penny lower. Consols closed in London at 9254. Breadstuffs were dull, but steady. Provi- sions were fiat. ‘The insurrection in Poland was spreading. The city of Wengrow had been taken by the Russians, after a sanguinary battle. The people of Cochin- China had revolted against the French, and despe- rate attacks were made on the Emperor's troops. The natives were repulsed, with heavy loss. The Queen of Spain, it was said, had refused to send her troops back to Cochin-China, at the request of the Emperor Napoleon. The Duke of Saxe-Co- bourg had finally declined the throne of Greece. The British schooner Julie, Captain Crocker, from Kingston, Jamaica, arrived at this port yes- terday morning, bringing dates to the 2d inst. Haniled: in fact, they are rather uncivilly de- clined, tie Geperor himself is somewhat snubbed, nad My, Seward’s letter to the French Minister is deseribed aa the sublimity of insolence. The Southern confederacy, we are told, needs no com- unis stoners to settle the difficulty, either of French orauy other suggestion; the commissioners al- exist iu the persons of Generals Lee, Reau- Longstreet, Jackson and Joe Johnston. » Richmond Enquirer says that the Union forces of General Jeff. C. Davis were encountered and dispersed by the rebel General Forrest at” Franklin on the 17th inst. Coptain Hutchinson, of schooner Olive Hay: ward, arrived yesterday morning from Curacoa, reports that onthe 10th instant, when in latitude 2, longitude 6441, he saw the rebel privateer Retribution, which chased his vessel for three hours, but being to windward of the Retribution, he escaped by outsailing her. A ‘etter from an officer of schooner Miranda, of New Haven, after giving an account of the recent depredations of the Alabama, states that the Dama arrived in St. Domingo on the 28th Mitino, at six P. M., and left the following morn- The Miranda sailed the following morning for Mayaguez, and ing, steering for the Mona Passage. arrived sately in Porto Rico, after being in the Passage two days. A special mecting of the Chamber of Commerce | was held yesterday. There was a large attend- The depredations of the Alabama were the principal subject of discussion. ance. Memorials were adopted calling on Congress to pass the bil! em- powering the President to issue letters of marque and reprisal, on the issuance of which authority the Chamber has before it the propriety of fitting capture the Alabama Resolutions were also out volunteer vessels to and other rebel cruisers, The rebel steamer Alabama left that port on the 26th ult., on a cruise. The ship Borodino, Captain Flowers, from England, had been chartered by the United States Vice Consul to convey to Key West the officers and crew of the United States steamer Hatteras, sunk by the Alabama. When off Cape Nicolas, Hayti, February 7, was boarded by a boat from the United States steamer Oneida, in search of the Alabama and Oreto, At the same time saw the flagship Wachusett. The conservative majority on Supervisors in Chemung county is seven hundred. Gov. Sey- mour’s majority last fall in that county was only forty-two. The Republican State Convention of Rhode Island will be held in Providence on the 10th of March. The first legal execution by hanging in the State of Kansas took place at Leavenworth on the 13th inst. A German, named Carl Horne, was hung for murder. The excitement and trouble between the jay- hawkers and border raffians in Leavenworth, Kan- sas, still continues. A meeting of the former was held on the 13th inst., at which resolutions were adopted demanding the immediate removal of the jailor and all the policemen of the city; and the notorious jayhawker Jennison declared that if the resolutions were not complied with he would lead a mob to execute the demand. Sixty-three more of the rebe! prisoners taken at Murfreesboro, Tenneaseo, took the oath of alle- giance to the United States, and renounced the Southern confederacy, at St. Lonis, on the 13th inst., and were thereupon released from the Gra- tiot street prison. Gen, Blnnt, who is in command of the Depart- | ment of Kansas, in a speech at a republican meet- ing in Leavenworth, on the 13th inst,, said it was supposed by many that the opposition to the war comes from the democratic party. This, he said, is not true. Many who have been associated with them are the leaders, but he believed the great mass of that party to be true and loyal. Charles Carroll Hicks, the secessionist, who was arrested at the St. Nicholas Hotel on Friday after- noon, was sent to Fort Lafayette yesterday, by di- rection of Provost Marshal Draper, to await the action of the War Department. adopted calling on the government to occupy, by on arsed foree, the Texan borders contiguous to Mexico, through which latter country animportant contraband trade is carried on for the relief of the rebels. Also resolutions in favor of the constrac- tion by the government of an ogeanic and coast line of telegraph from Galveston to Fortress Mon- The Republican Central Committee celebrated the anniversary of Washington's birthday last evening at the City Assembly Rooms by a supper and appropriate speeches. Among the speakers was Daniel S. Dickinson, who made a vigorous ad- dress for a coutinuance of the war for the Union, a report of which will be found elsewhere, The case of the Mayor against Mr. Henry Erben, roe and Washington. A full report of the proceed- | for the recovery of $9,000, for an alleged over pay- ings will be found in another column, EUROPEAN NEWS. ‘he Canada, at Halifax, telegraphs newa from Enrope to the Sth inst., a week later. ‘The session of the British Parliament was opened a the 5th inst. by a speech from the throne. Queen Victoria says she has “abstained from ti ing any step with a view to induce a cessation of the contlict between the contending parties of the North American States, because it has not yet seemed to her that any such overtures could be attended wiih a probability of success.” Her Ma- jesty laments the continued existence of the cou- ict wad its effects on the cotton manufactures of Bouiand, but says that she derives consolation from the (act that the distress is wbating, aud that & renewal of employment ix begin to tal town dveturing distr i oa the address, in reply to he spocch, in the Mouse of Lords, Kar! Porky ox Prepsed bis soproval of the course of the Gabinat, ment to Mr. Erben, as mortgagor of property during the extension of Canal street, has been recently decided hy the Superior Court of this city in favor of the defendant. Judge Moncrief, in delivering the | opinion of the Court, states that there was no mistake in the payment, nor was there paid to the defendant, Erben, any sum of money not of right | due and payable to him. ‘The business of the Stock Exchango ynsterday was large, but the course of prices was irregular and the ten. | doncy gencrally downward. Gold ductusted between | 16135 and 1624, closing t_182 bid. Exchange closed at | 179 9,180. Money was oasy at Oa 7 per cont, i Breadetafle were only moverately active on Saturday i Prices of flour ant wheat closed in favor of buyers. Corn } Wasa ebade dearer. A inir business was reported in provisions, with a sight improvement iu pork and no important chavges in other kivds, Sagars and whiskey wore in fair rey tiest nd tobacco we: lent Coffee, tallow Lin pil wast full she ir in hooor of Was yusinows wil be very gonorally sus abor and and dov re was 2 49) tor » 8% Thore erations in NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 99 “-, ‘The News from Mextco—Phe Posicion of Napolcon on this Continen The resent advices from Biexico do not confirm the reported defeat of the Frenoh at Puebla. We do not, however, hear of any advantages obtained by them, while we do receive reliable details as to the dan- gers which environ them, and of their total inability to proceed to the city of Mexico in the | easy, jaunty etyle they had imagined. We hear of small guccesses achieved by the Mexicans; of their capturing ® French steamer and taking from her guns and munitions; of their seizing trains of provisions and munitions of war be- longing to the French, and also of their captur- ing the mules and horses which were being sent to the French commander to enable a forward movement on his part. The French have eban- doned the Perote and ‘Jalapa roads, and have concentrated their whole force upon the Orizaba road, while they have also been compelled to eva- cuate Tampico. They shell the Mexican towns, burn the farms and houses in their routes; but they obtain no positive advantage, and Gencral Forey has been obliged to demand, as we hear upon responsible authority, reinforcements to the number of sixty thousand men, although the forces in Mexico are already well up to that figure. Thus, ere they can,commence (heir march for the city of Mexico, the French require over one hundred thousand troops. We captured the place with not « tenth part of such a force; but we were enabled to march rapidly, could easily obtain our resources, and, above all, had no three thousand miles of sea to cross ere we reached our enemies. It has now become evident that to conquer Mexico France will have to make a great effort; that she will need an immense army, and that the consequent out- lay of treasure will be immense. When Napo- leon receives the last despatches of General Forey he will, perhaps, feel less desire to em- broil France in a quarrel with the people of the North. He will, unless pushed on by fatality, reason that, if all his resources are needed to conquer the Mexicans, it is simply impossible that he could war with the United States gov- ernment with any other result than a shameful defeat. He will soon hear that our President has had conferred upon him unlimited power over the military resources of the North; that at his will he can call an additional million of troops into the field, and he must know that when we fully decide upon a struggle with any foreign Power we shall not be laggards in pro- ducing such a fleet of war vessels as would overrun the seas. The aggression of Napoleon, whom we were wont to look upon as a friend, is all the more bitter from that very fact, and to repel his attacks the people of the North would forget all” party differences, all questions save that of the integrity and majesty of the Union, and France would be repulsed, as would all Europe com- bined under like circumstances. Should Napo- leon undertake a campaign against us it will be the act of a desperate man—a suicidal, last resort. He feels that in France his power is on the wane, and from no greater reason than the popular dislike to the Mexican expedition, which he persisted in in spite of the advice of his most devoted counsellors and ad- herents. His letter to General Forey may have been recently published with the purpose of influencing the coming elections in France; but it was not written originally for that purpose, and it betrays the real designs of the man. While he was prating to the world about his sincere desire to behold the Uniom preserved and an end put to the American rebellion, he was privately writing to General Forey that he fully intended doing all in his power to arrest the progress of the Union. But fresh circumstances may change all this. Other complications and other necessities may lead to another course. It is beyond all doubt the duty of our administration to prepare for all emergencies, and above all to make ample defences for our harbors and coasts. We must have the means to repel any foe so insane as to attack us. Whatever Napoleon may do, we sheuld be prepared. The administration, we feel eure, will not allow any time to elapse ere the most energetic measures are adopted to prove to the world that the people of the United States are determined to be respected. In fact, were all Europe combined, it were impossible for us to admit their intervention by foree. We must uphold the Union, must restore it to all its power and influence, let the obstacles be what they may; and, with single- ness of purpose and a total abandonment of all ideas save the glory and continuance of our great republic, we shall surely succeed. Mean- while, the Mexicans are fighting our battles with the French, and forcing conviction on the Emperor's mind that he had better let this con- tinent alone. Tue ALLEGED Svurrression or NewsParERs iv THE ARMY or THE Poromac—It had been stated that all the New York papers were ex- cluded from the Army of the Potomac by order of General Hooker. But that statement was afterwards diminished by the Triune, which announced with glee that only one paper, of the copperhead species, had been shut out, and for that order the Commanding General de- served the highest praise. Yesterday, however, the Zribune not only swallowed its own words, but confessed it had been guilty of “malignant falsehood,” “disloyal and envious,” for having “successfully disseminated through the country the news that the Provost Marshal had sup- pressed the sale” of said paper, the falsehood being “aimed at the new commander.” There has, it insists, been no suppression of any jour- nal. This is like the story of the three black crows. But it turns out that all the trouble is about the Tribune itself, which, having broken down everywhere else, tries to raise the wind on the Rappahannock. The soldiers, however, have refused to purchase it at any price, or even to read It if distributed to them gratis. It was offered even at two cents per copy——lese than the cost price of the blank paper; but it could neither be sold nor given away, An attempt was made in its interest to inter- fere with the newsboys in an indirect way; but they soon showed that they were not made of the stuff that could be “ de- moralized.” They “know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain.” It has been spitefully stated by a Washington paper, which the newsboys never sell and the soldiers never read, that the newsboys conspired to raise the price of papers to ten cents, and that “that’s what's the matter.” If they charged a quarter of a dollar apiece, that is no reason why they | for itself another still better, like the at- tempt to destroy the ‘arbor of Charleston by stopping vo the channel, which had only the effect of cresting a deeper one in another di- rection. The Henan» is an institution which | cannot be stopped any more than the flow of | the tide or tie current of the Mississippi. We have received a number of letters on the sub- joct—some from persons wanting to be whole- sale agents, We have no exclusive agents. We sell the Huxarp to all who are ready to pay cash for it, and in that way every dealer in newspapers may become an agent for its sale on his own responsibility. The Religious as from a Religious Point of View. Christ said :— My kingdom is not of this world.” Christianity, therefore, ought not to be of the world worldly. Consequently the religious press, which professes to represent and propagate true Christianity, should deal delicately with the affairs of earth, and devote itself wholly to the arduous task of persuading, convincing and converting sinners, increasing and edifying the Church of God, and making this wicked world more like that Heaven into which, as some theologians say, it is some dey to be transformed. Christ persistently and re- } solutely refused to dabble in politics. “Render unto Cesar the things that are Ciesar’s; and unto God the things that are God's,” was His reply to those who endeavored to entrap him into a | journale—have fallen to the ground, and recoil- ed upon the heads of their authors, the same men who, by their “on te Richmond ” clamor, caused him to lose the first battle of Bull run, by goading the administration to order him to make the attaek before his raw troops were sufficiently drilled and disciplined for offensive political speech. It is evident that those per- sons who claim to be, par excellence, the ser- vants of Christ, should follow his example in this, as in all other respects, It is equally clear that the editors of religious papers who assume to be not only readers and doers, but also teachers of the Word, should be particularly careful not to attempt to mingle politics and religion or to effect a compromise between Cesar and God. Truo Christians of all denomi- nations will admit the truth of these trite but pregnant statements. No respectable dominie will hesitate to endorse them from his pulpit. How is it, then, that we find the religious press of this city busying itself with the affuirs of time, and almost entirely neglecting those of eternity? How is it that we find the religious editors advocating doctrines and promulgating opinions which are contrary to all Christian principles and abhorrent to all really pious people? With scarcely an exception the re- ligious press now urges on the war, and indig- nantly repudiates all efforts towards eoncilia- tion. Is that in accordance with the pre- cepts of the Prince of Peace? Is war a Chris- tian amusement? Is it plows to cut, wound, kill and destroy human beings? Does true religion teach us to shed our brothers’ blood or to insist that other people shall commit murder in a fratricidal conflict? If so, in what are Christians better than sinners? In what does the Bible differ from “The School for the Sol- dier?” In what consists the distinction between religion and the art military? War, as we all know, is but another name for a conglomera- tion of massacres, robberies and brutalities—a concentration of all kinds of outrages upon life, person and property. Is war, then, a Christian institution? Is the Bible wrong in commanding men not to kill, not to steal, not to covet their neighbor’s goods? We appeal from the dictum of the modern religious press to that original issue of the ancient religious press—the Word of God. According to the doctrines of that book war isa sin. Why, then, does our religious press insist upon our continu- ing in our sin? What could the moat profane, the most irreligions, press do more? The Bible and our religious newspapers are plainly at variance upon this most essential point. Either one or the other is entirely wrong. Those who believe the one should discard the other. No one can profitably read, or allow his family to read, authorities so totally contradictory. It is not at all difficult to determine which is the true spel. : e proper course for the religious papers to take daring the present crisis would naturally suggest itself to those who regard the question from a religious point of view. While endur- ing tIfis war as patriots, the pious editors ought to earnestly and constantly protest against it as Christians. But, as it is, the religious papers have not even the excuse of excessive patriotism for their wofully false position. Patriotism, like religion, utterly es- chews politics. The politics of this day are notoriously dirty; and who can touch filth and not be defiled? But the reli- gious papers are almost all political organs. In last week’s Independent there is a long article, written by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and entirely devoted to personal and political abuse of Thurlow Weed. Is that a proper article for a minister of God to write and a religious paper to publish? To this arti- cle Thurlow Weed has replied in a “card” 80 well conceived and keenly worded as to com- pletely annihilate the reverend editor of tho Independent. It is thus that truth always gets the better of error, and right of wrong; but how sad it is to find error and wrong cham- pioned by a minister of God, and truth and right opposing a religious paper. Such aspec- tacle sets all old ideas of both propriety and Christianity at deflance. What is the world coming to, when already the agents of God are doing the work of the Devil, the pulpit has be- come a political rostrum, and the religious press, instead of expounding, illustrating and disseminating the Gospel of Christ in truth and soberness, is found crying havoc, hi-hi-ing on the dogs of war, and indulging in the worst and basest sort of political controversy? But, say the editors of these delectable papers, we must write up the war and dabble in politics or our papers would not pay. Upon this principle the Zvangelist reserves only two or three columns for “Religious Reading” and thrice as many for the negro ; the Methodist keeps continually passing round the saucer, and the Independent pushes religion into a cotner, and gives stocks, politics and quack medicines the foremost place and most partial attention. This, from a religious point of view, appears to be a desperate attempt te serve both God and Mammon. If religious pa- pers, pure and simple, will not pay, why, then, should not the pretence of religion be dropped, as the character bas been, long ago? Why keep up this hypocritical assumption of piety? Why longer insult God by claiming to be His or- gans? Common honesty and probity should induce the editors of these religious weeklies not to sail under false colors in future, but to come out boldly, like the Alabama, hoisting the black flag and doing the black business of sho ye interfered with "he law: . ich i the sign. Christi | Banks has urgently and repostediy requested should be interfer with, The laws of de which it is ign. Then good ( hristians mM antne hd bs wa a eg rane mand and supply, and free trade and competition | would know who was with and who against | ge Front Royal. In B note to me his morning the Presi. ag : ; _ Dowell what Banks says, | would soon regulate any excess in the them, whom to succor and whom to abhor; py ee te ee y shields Tewain a tow cayt ee Pieat As for the Heratn, it cannot be stopped. If! and, if all masks were thus removed, many of | Royal.” one ebannel should be closed jt will apen! ws voor, lest aimuera wauld seem. (om « 1863. ! religious point of wiew, to have cleaner hands | and purer hearts than the abominable Phari- | sees of the religious preas. | General McDowell's Defence—Its Vindt- { tom of McClellan and Condemnation of the War Department. The defence which General McDowell read before the court of inquiry at Washington ise paper too voluminous for our columns. Yet it contains points of great interest, to which we desire to advert. As far as the charges against General Mc- Dowell are concerned, we think he has been completely successful in refuting them. He was accused of “drunkenness, disloyalty and treason.” As to the first charge, he has shown that he has never drank anything stronger than water; and as to the alleged disloyalty and treazon, there was not a shadow of proof pro- duced to substantiate those cruel charges so lippantly made by the abolitionists. The out- ery raised against him inthe Senate by Mr. Wade and inthe republican journals, about protecting rebel property while he was in com- mand of the Army of the Rappahannock, is de- monstrated to be without any foundation to rest upon. The charges of Sigel, too, about his permitting Longstreet to pass through Thoroughfare Gap, and about. his failure to play his proper part in the secend battle of Bull run—charges reiterated in all the radical operations. But the weightiest charge made against him was that he obtained the separation of his corps from the army of McClellan, and wilfully de- feated the peninsular campaign by refusing to co-operate with that general in the advance upon Richmond. The testimony proves ex- actly the contrary: that he never sought to have an independent command, and that he did his utmost to effect a junction with McClel- lan, but was prevented by positive written orders from the War Department, which he pro- duced before the court. General McClellan and General Hitcheock, of the War Department, both equally acquit McDowell of any respon- sibility in failing to join the Army of the Poto- mac. On the 24th of April he received at Fal- mouth a despatch from the War Department “not to throw his force across the Rappahannock at present.” After earnestly soliciting permis- sion to cross over to Fredericksburg he received another despatch from the War Department, dated Anril 30, telling him that “he can oceupy Fredericksburg with such force as in his judg- ment may be necessary to held it for defensive purposes, but not with a view to make a forward movement.” Meantime, McDowell, with the aid of his troops and the trees ent down by them, rebuilt the railroad bridge over the Rap- pahannock, six hundred feet long and sixty-five feet high, and that over the Potomac creek, four hundred feet long and eighty feet high. The latter, which was built in nine days, was most remarkable, and elicited the admiration of distinguished foreign officers. It wasa structure which ignored all the rules and precedents of military science as laid down in books, and even Napoleon’s bridge builders never accomplished such a work. On the 17th of May instructions were issued from the War Department that, on being joined by General Shields’ division, he should move to Richmond. He had forty thousand men and ove hundred pieees of artillery, and he was ready to ud- vance. Shields’ army, which was without “shoes, trowsers and ammunition, &c.,” now joined him. The needed articles were supplicd. But it was found that all the artillery ammuni- tion furnished was bad, and was condemned by an inspector of ordnance from the War Depart- ment, and new ammunition was ordered; but the transport grounded near Alexandria, and lost a day. Everything was ready for the march on Sunday; but another day was lost by an objection on the part of the pious authori- ties at Washington as to the desecration of the | Sabbath. But on Sunday (the 25th of May) he received an order from Washington “to lay aside for the present the movement on Richmond, and put twenty thousand men in motion at once for the Shenandoah.” Jackson was now in pursuit of Banks, and the alarm at the capital was great. Ord’s division was ordered by the War Department to Washington and Alexandria, and Shields’ division was sent back to the valley via Catlett’s Station. A ter- rible rain storm, which carried away the bridges, prevented the junction of the forces of Shields and Fremont; and Jackson, after driv- ing Banks to the Potomac, made good his re- treat, and marched rapidly to the assistance of Lee on the Chickahominy, while it was firmly believed by Banks, Fremont and the wiseacres at Washington that he was about to return into the valley with reinforcements. Thus McDowell’s army was kept in the valley by Jackson’s ruse de guerre; but at length, on the 6th of June, McDowell was ordered to send McCall's division from Fredericksburg to Gene- ral McClellan by water, down the Rappaban- nock. Had 20,000 more men been sent at that time, McClellan would have been in Rich- mond in legs than a week. On the &sth of June, after a personal interview with the President, McDowell obtained an order from the War Department to the effect that, “after having first provided adequately for the de- fence of Washington and Fredericksburg, he should march towards Richmond to co-operate with McClellan.” Shields was now ordered by McDowell to return from the valley to Frede- ricksburg. But the order was afterwards modi- fied by the War Department, and only one bri- gade was permitted to move till Gen. Banks should occupy Front Royal. From this time ferth, owing to the intrigues of other generals and conflicting orders, Mc- Dowell says he had “a constant struggle to get his forces out of the valley to concentrate them upon Fredericksburg.” He had to wait till bridges were built across the Shenandoab, and it was not till late in June that Banks was ena- bled to cross the river at Front Royal. Mean- time the troops and horses of General Shields ‘were without shoes and his men without blan- kets, causing further delay. Another attempt at delay was made, owing to a request of Gen. Banks to retain Shields for a short time at Front Royal. On the 2Ist of June Mr. Stanton tele- graphed to McDowell as follows :— Gyt Shields’ division, in compligggs wish tha orders given after the President had been with McDowell at Manassas, had reached Bristow Sta- and McDowell, however, were still doomed te disappointment by the evil genius which swayed the councils of the War Department. On. the 26th of June an order from Washingtom was issued suppressing the Department of the Rappahannock, and placing McDowell, with his forces, under Major General Pope, to constitute a part of the Army of Virginia, On the same day Jackson—concerning the renewal of whose attack down the Shenandoah there had beengo much speculation in the valley—struck the right of General McClellan's army before Rich- mond, and commenced that series ef patties which resulted in the retreat of the Army of the Potomac to Berkley, on the James river, and all the disasters that bave since followed in the train of that event. McDowell had telegraphed McClellan on the 10th of June that he would be with him in ten days, and he adds that if he had been permitted to withdraw his forces from the valley at the time he issued his orders (June 8) he would have formed a junction with him by the 20th, or by the time McCall's divi- sion reached him by water from Fredericks: burg. id Thus not only were McDowell and ‘hie army made a football of, to be kicked about from place to place by politicians, but McClellan and his army were victimized by the imbecility which rules at Washington, after which Pope aud his army were sacrificed in turn by the same ignorant folly and mis- management. The next victims were Burnside and his army, whose defeat was caused by the delay of the pontoons. Such continuous and disastrous blundering is without a parallel in the wars of any other nation. By the result of this investigation McDowell, is vindicated, and McClellan is vindicated; but the War De- partment is “damned to everlasting fame.” Ovr Frvanxctan RequmemeNts ror THE Com- ina Seasos—Tue War, toe Orsra, &c.—Mr. Chase may not be exactly a Colbert or a Necker; but he is not the less one of the luck- iest of financiers, All his schemes thrive, though every one predicts their failure. He is a sort of alchemist, with this exception, that hia convertible bases have nothing of the metallic ring about them. He cannot, like Vespasian, give cavillers a smell of his coinage; but he can gratify them with the sight of a substitute whiok he can produce at pleasure, and which is pic- torially infinitely more interesting. It is true that some object to its prevailing color; but if it satisfies the masses there would appear to be a peculiar fitness even in this. Verdant tints are always agreeable to the eye of the confiding and simple minded, and Mr. Chase is very pro- perly determined that the public creditors shall not have to complain of not having seen the color of his money. By his new finance measures he has secured an ample pro- vision of it for months to come. Our fighting Secretary of War and our fighting Secretary ef the Navy can therefore go to work in earnest. Mr. Chase will soon have on hand (that is if the Treasury printing presses canbe made to move faster than the usual official pace) enough for the campaign at Vicksburg, enough for the campaign at Charleston, enough for the cam~- paign at Savannah, and enough for the cam- paign in New York, when, owing to the arrival of Maretzek’s expeditionary foree, money for the next two months is certain to be very much wanted. We have reason to congratulate ourselves that in his calculation for the present year Mg. Chase has not overlooked this latter drain upoa our resources. That it will be an unusuallg heavy one our community may rest assured. The great chef, like some of our military chiefs, is weary of being styled unlucky, whilst every one admits his abilities as a leader. He has been burning for an oppertunity to show that, once he could cast off the paralyzing influences (always originating with the Treasury) which have hitherto beset him, he could har ness Dame Fortune to his car. This time his calculations seem to have a fair chance of realization. He has come back from Havana with his pockets brimming and with a bevy of new singing birds, described to be of the rarest and most satisfactory quality. One recommendation they have for certain: they are all new to us. New faces, new voices and new operatic works are the grand deside- rata just now in all new speculations of this sort. Of these we shall have sufficient to satisfy us for some time to come. Three prime donne, a tener, a baritene and a basso, all strangers to us, and whose European reputations are said to be first class, constitute a force of attraction which we have not had an opportunity of wit- nessing in any one season for many years past. Their repertoire, judging from their perform- ances in Havana, takes an unusually wide range, and we are promised four new operas that have not as yet been produced here. The season, we are happy to say, is not to be spas- modic, but a well sustained, honest, continuous season, such as we used to have in the good old times, when managers, like our generals, had not to give place to each other every fort- night, and to go on a country tramp with her- maphrodite opera to pull up for the shortcom- ings caused by unsatisfactory metropolitan ar- rangements. Obi ry. DEATH OF MRS. EDWIN BOOTH. Mr. Edwin Booth was advertised to appear at the Winter Gardev last evening in the part of Richard tho Third, but, having recoived intelligence of the severe illness of bis wife, he left the city yesterday morning for Boston. Be- fore he had been gone an hour a telegram arrived here to inform him of his wife's decease. Mr, Lawrence Barrett kindly undertook to sustain Mr. Booth’s part last evening; but Mr. Booth’s engagement will not be resumed, proba- bly, for some weeks to como. Mrs. Booth expired at eight o’clock on Saturday mora- ing, at ber bhusband’s residence, at Dorchester, nest Boston. She had been in very delicate health for several months past; but the immediate caus® of ber death was inflammation, contracted from @ cold, After her husband left ber to fulsl his engagement here she gradeally declined, and at leet wife's condition pre; completely prost airce of his duties ahaa rane PZ aeatn explains its discontinuanes Mrs. Booth will capo oung actressot ¥! Ir. Booth foe 9 be remem! ery brilliant engaged to bor 3 i af in December, 156! dew y, most derail bis rignds—will deeply. tion onits way to Fredericksburg. McClellan -