The New York Herald Newspaper, June 15, 1863, Page 4

4 NEW_YORK HERALD. ~~ereeeens JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND POPRIBIOR. OFFICE N. W. CORNER OF FULTON 4ND NASSAU 8T8, TERMS cash iM advance. Money sent by mail will be atthe risk of the gender. ‘None bat bank bills current ia Now York taken, THE DAILY HERALD, Tunez cents por copy. THE WEEKLY HERALD, every Saturday, at Five cents Per copy. Avnual gubsoription prive:— One Copy «+ $2 Postage five cents per copy for three months. Aby larger number, addressed to names of subscribers, $1 50cach. An extra copy will be sent to every club of ten Twenty copies, to one address, oue year, $35, and any ‘arger number at same price. Anextra copy will be sent to clubs of twenty. These rates make the WEReLy Haran the cheapest publication in the country. ‘The Eurorgam Epon, every Wednesday, at Five cents Per copy; $4 per annum to @ny part of Great Britain, or @6 to any part of the Continent, both to include Postage, The Cauirorma Eprriox, on the $4, 13th and 284 of each month, at Six conts per copy, or @3 per annum. AbvERTiskMeNnTs, to 8 limited number, will be inserted in the Wuxay Hxnatp, and in the European and Califor- bia Editions. VOLUNTARY CORRESPONDENCE, containing import- ‘ent news, solicited from any quarter of the world; if ‘used, will be liberally paid for. gg- Our Formaw Cor- RESPONDENTS ARE PARTIOULARLY REQUESTED TO SEAL ALL LEY ‘TENS AND PACKAGES SENT UR. NO NOTICE taken of anonymous correspondence. We do not return rejected communications ame XXVIIEZ ...........0.4+ seceees- NO. 165 AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Tas Duxs's Morro. WALLACK’S THEATRE, Broadway.—Srzsp Provan. WINTER GARDEN, Broadway.—Corstcam Baipe. LAURA KEENE’S THBATI Broadway.—' Pauis—Vas v& Frons—Gens Or THE ‘Orsma. sid NEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Sattons Asnonz— Pinatss or THe SAVARNAH—Fwo GREGORMES, BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Scaurs or Loxpox— Rep GNoue—Fiyine Dorcnmay. BARNUM'S AMERICAN MUS&UM, Broadway. —Grn. ‘Tom Taums 4xp Wirx, Com. Nutr axp Minniz WaknEN, at allhours. Duxe's Bequust=Nexvous Man. oon and Evening. BRYANTS' MINSTRELS, Mechanics’ Hall. 672 Broad Way.-Eruiorian Songs, Burtesqums, Dances, &¢.—How Any You, Guxxnnacnst WOOD'S MINSTREL HALL. 514 Broadwar.—Ergiorian forces, Dancxs, &c.—Wake Ur Wituiam Henry. THE NEW IDEA. 485 Broadway.—Soncs. Burtesqurs, Faurts, &c.—Tuz Surrnisx. AMERICAN THEATRE, No, 46 Broadway.—Batuura, Pantonimes, Bursusquas. A0, HOPK CHAPEL, 720 Broudway—PanonaMé OF THE Hour Lanp—Concert sy Wik OLD Fouas. ,NEW YORK MUSEUM OF ANATOMY, 618 Broadway.— Curiosities axp Lxetures, from 9 A. M. til 10 P.M. HOOLEY'S OPERA HOUS! jrooklyn.—Brmiorian Fores, Dances, BurLesqurs, aa * » New York, Monday, J 15, 1863. THE SITUATION. It is evident from all the ascertained movements of General Lee's army that an active campaign is now in operation against the Union forces on the Rappahannock, and that at any moment a most important phase in the state of affairs there may be developed. Harper’s Ferry, the Shenandoah valley and the upper fords of the Potomac are the points indicated by the recent rebel movements as the theatres of approaching complications. Our army appears also to be changing ite base. The supplies are being transported from Aquia creek to Alexandria. The last despatches from Vicksburg and vicinity, received last night via Cairo, and dated the 8th inst.,merely repeat the accounts previously pub- lished. The army continues in good health and spirits. The siege advances with every prospect. of success, We give an extended and highly interesting ac- count to-day of the recent operations of the rebel privateers, which is worthy of attention, as show- ing the activity of the enemy on the seas. Two new privateer steamers have made their appear- ance, and it would appear from all the report that they are scouring the Atlantic Ocean" as far down as Cape Horn, and from that point round into the Pacific, to intercept our vessels from China and India, The reports of these bold proceedings on the part of the rebel navy appear to have waked up our Navy Department, for four United States ves- sels were sent from this port on Saturday night; three were ordered out from Hampton Roads at the same time, and others are under orders to follow immediately to hunt up the Clarence (or Coquette). We publish in another column the reply of Mr. Lincoln to the resolutions adopted at the Albany meeting of the 16th ult., relative to the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham, the vindication of free speech and so forth. The President deals with the ques- tion elaborately, justifying the suspension of the habeas corpus, and arguing with much logic and sophistry the claims of the administration to act as they have done in the matter of summary ar- rests, trials by military courts, and the necessity of not waiting for the commission of defined crimes to put troublesome persons out of the way. He says that he regrets the necessity of Mr. Vailandig- ham's arrest and banishment, and will be glad to discharge him, provided the public safety will not suffer by it. At the same time he intimates that if he had exercised his own discretion he would not have ordered the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham at all. The President's letter, on the whole, is most interesting. Our correspondent in Vera Craz, writing on the Ast of June, furnishes a very interesting and im- portant resume of the condition of affairs in Mexi- co to that day. He states that Puebla was de- fended to the last moment, and that Ortega sur- rendered only when hunger compelled him to do so. It was said that nine thousand of ‘the defend- ers of the place had reached Mexico City. The French were in possession of Vera Cruz, Cordova, Orizaba and Puebla, but the writer alleges that the other portions of the republic were universally hostile to them. Napoleon's officers were, never- theless, driving on some very huge public works in the shape of railroads, bridges, viaducts and 80 forth, paying over thirty thousand dollars weekly in wages to the laborers, independent of the salary of engineers and mechan cs. One viaduct is to be Duilt at s cost of two milliovs of dollars, The S$ cash and material for these undertakings are land- ed from Francé, and laborers in hundreds from New Orleans. The French officials in Vera Cruz assert that all these undertakings will soon be completed, and they seem to entertain no idea of leaving the country. Over fifty civil officers are said to be on their way from France, in ordgr to assist in reorganizing the ciyil government in the departments. The war had produced an ex- tensive disorganization of the commerce, the executive administration, the postal arrange- ments, finances, and naval and military depart: ments of Mexico. In and around Vera Cruz, as well as in the city and port of Minititlan and other points of the sea coast, the French enforced the most watchfut and rigorous system of military repression against all who opposed them. The British officials said nothing, and seemed rather to approve of the action of their late allies. The Egyptian negroes impressed by Napoleon had murdered nine women and children in a village near Vera Cruz. Colonel Labrausse, French Commandant in Vera Cruz, had died of vomito, as had also the chief of the negroes. It was reported at Panama, our correspondent writes, that the affairs of the French progressed most favorably in Mexico, and it was thought that Mexico City would soon fall after Puebla. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. From Central America we have a special letter, dated at Managua, Nicaragua, on the 28th of May, with mail advices brought to Panama, and for warded thence on the 6th of June. Our Managua correspondent gives a very flattering report of the prospects of the Transit Company, both as regards the actual working of the route and their present. and probable future relations with the Nicaraguan government. He says that Secretary Seward had instructed Mr. Dickinson, our Minister tiary to President Castillo, in positive terms, ‘‘to protect the transit, and keep the public highway open at all hazards,’ and also to see that “ the route should never again be molested or interrupt- ed, either by external or internal dissensions.” The delfeate yet firm manner in which Mr. Dick- ingon carried out the intentions of Cabinet in negotiating with Captain General M Z, Ap- pointed commissioner for that purpose by Castil- lo, is ‘said to haye produced excellent effects. Eleven hundred passengers have been lately cross- ed over the route without accident or hindrance, the land and water’ transit being both in good or- der. From Panama we have advices of a charac- ter the very contrary to the above. Our corres- pondent at that point says:—‘‘ The Transit Com- pany have not been able to effect any arrange- ment with the Nicaraguan government.” He also says that Lieutenant Pym, of New York, was work- ing industriously to obtain a concession for a tran- sit road, to be built with English capital. President Carrera, of Guatemala, had furloughed his army. It was thought he had abandoned the idea of invading San Salvador. The army of Sal- vador was on the frontier, and peace was not pro- bable between the forces. Costa Rica was likely to maintain # neutrality towards the Central Ame-, rican league now forming. In New Granada the new constitution had been promulgated. Mosquera was nominated Presi- dent, to hold office until next April, when there will be an election, A new Cabinet had been formed. Mr. McKee, United States Consul at Pa- nama, had arranged the boundary of the ce- metery for Americans and English, who have died or who may die onthe Isthmus, with Governor Diaz, in a satisfactory manner. From the South Pacific welearn that extensive frauds had been discovered in the Valparaiso and Santiago Railroad. There is nothing new from Pera. We are indebted to the purser of the steamship Plantagenet for Jamaica papers to June5. They contain no news. The Board of Excise held its twenty-third ses- sion yesterday, and after granting several licenses adjourned to this. afternoon at ‘balf-past one o'clock. The Excise and Police Commissioners say that the Excise law will be rigidly enforced this year. The police have been ordered to report the names and address of all persons who sell liquor without license. The steamship America, Captain Jeff. Maury, left her dock, foot of Warren street, at neon on Saturday last, with two hundred cabin and three hundred steerage pessengers. The America is one of Marshall O. Roberts’ new line of California steamers, This line has been in successful opera- tion for some time, and is rapidly gaining popu- larity with the travelling public. This route is some seven hundred miles shorter than the Panama route, and thus places passengers in San Francisco’ in about twenty three days. The America has among her passengers the Rev. Father Brouillet, of Montreal, and a party of thirty-eight sisters of charity. Also the Very Rev. Dr. Hodges, of Ore- gon; J, E. Lawrence, Esq., editor of the Golden Era, San Francisco, and E. L. Goold, Eeq., a very prominent member of the bar. She carries out a large quantity of machinery for the Transit Com- pany. A soldiers’ banquet isto be given at Newark, New Jersey, on the Fourth of July. The members of the State Convention of Mis- souri will reassemble to-day in the city of Jeffer- son, in response to the proclamation of Gov. Gamble, to consult upon the question of emanci- pation. This Convention, it will be remembered, was first ordered by Governor Claiborne F. Jack- gon, for the purpose of passing an ordinance of secession; but the elections for members proved that the people were not ready for the embraces of Jeff. Davis, and a large majority of Union men was chosen. The rebel General Sterling Price was a member. The following is @ tabular statement of the amount of Pennsylvania anthracite coal transport- ed over the Reading Railroad during the week ending June 11, together with the amount brought to tide water during the year, comparéd with the number of tons shipped up to the same date in 1862:— Tons. From Port Carbon. 26,608 From Pottaville. B44 From Schuylkill 25,591 From Auburn... 5,674 From Port Clinton. 7,217 From Harrisburg and Dauphin 95 Total for week. 65,032 From Harrisburg, bituminous, do. . ° 5,040 Total of all kinds for week. Total for the i see To same time year. Excess over 1862.... The stock market on Saturday was better. The leading railway shares advanced &% a 1)¢ percent, and the mar. ket closed with rather a buoyant tone. Gold rose to 143, exchange to 15634. Money was in better supply and there was !ess suffering ob this score among the brokers, The stock market was better on Saturday, and there was ‘more disposition to buy stocks, Money was very active: but there was no slaughtering of collaterals, the weak speculators having been generally weeded out. Gold was higher, selling up to 143, Exchange wae 166 0 i. Cotton was quiet on Saturday, but was not held Armiy. Heavier sales of flour were reported, but at unsettled prices, as likewise of wheat, corn and oats at firmer rates, The provision trade was more active; pork and lard were advancing. Groceries wore leas freely pur. chasea. Whiskey was quiet, but stendy. Hides and leather were fo fair request, as Wore alto hay, tallow, dry codfish and pickled mackerel. Uther articles wore rather auiet. The freight engagements were very moderate, vance by the Whole Rebel Army. The indications that an offensive campaign has not only been resolved upon, but has ac- tually been commenced, by General Lee, sinii- lar to that of last year, are so numerous, con- sistent and conclusive, in our judgment, as to leave no margin for the slightest doubt upon the subject. The movements of the enemy around Culpep- per Court House, which were supposed, on our side, a week ago, to be only the preparations for a grand cavalry raid by Stuart, it now ap- pears were movements involving the whole rebel army. This is pretty broadly indicated in General Lee’s despatch relating to the recent cavalry fight, which shows that on June 9 his headqnarters were at Culpepper. . But the despatch of June 13, from. Mr. Cook, one of our correspondents with the army of General Hooker, settles the question. He says that “the movements of General Lee in the direction of Culpepper have been on a larger and a more expeditious scale than was at first supposed, and embrace nearly the entire forces of his army, there now remaining opposite Falmouth a force not execeding ten thousand men.” From other despatches it appears that Lee has been heavily reinforced from the neighborhood of ‘Suffolk, and from North and South Carolina. He is thus prepared for offensive operations; and what these operations will be we think may be readily conjectured from certain other facts betraying his preliminary recoanoissances. Our Harper’s Ferry correspondent reports that at the time of Mosby’s late raid into Mary- land from Edwards’ Ferry a powerful body of rebel infantry was not far behind him on the Virginia shore, It is thus evident that Mosby was thrown forward as a feeler. Next, it ap- pears that General Milroy, at Winchester, bas wind of an approaching heavy column of the enemy, end is fearful of being cut off; and next, at Middletown, some twelve’ or thirteen miles higher up the Shenandoah valley, there was, on Friday last, a skirmish between an outlying de- tachment of Union troops and a squad of four hundred rebel cavalry. All these movements indicate the repetition of General Lee’s North- ern. campaign of last summer, including the clearing out of the Shenandoah valley, the sur- prise and capture of Harper’s Ferry, and the invasion of Maryland by way of the Potomac fords, near Poolesville, and this time, in all probability, a desperate effort to get into Washington by the back door. These are our opinions, from. the suggestive facts referred to; but it would also appear— which we are glad to believe—that they are the opinions of the War Office. It is reported that the bulk of the supplies of the Army of the Po- tomac have been removed from Aquia creek to Alexandria; that General Hooker is gradually withdrawing his lines from his old position, and that, whatever direction Lee may take, he will find himself confronted by the Army of the Potomac. There will be no excuse, at all events, to’ the chiefs of the War Office for another blundering Virginia campaign like that of last summer, with all the instructive misfor- tunes of that campaign before them. The pre- sent situation of the opposing armies, as com- pared with their situation in last year’s. cam- paign from Culpepper to Centreville, gives us many important advantages. Last August, while Pope. for two or three weeks was com- pelled, with some forty thousand men, to resist the pressure of a rebel army of eighty thousand or more, the War Office had troops at Frede- ricksburg, Alexandria, Washington and there- abouts, which, if promptly thrown forward, would have been sufficient to defeat and dix perse the rebel army at Manassas, and follow its fugitive fragments into Richmond. But, be- tween Pope and McClellan and the advancing and victorious rebel army, the chiefs of the War Office were thrown into such a state of consternation and embarrassment as to make confusion in everything they did only worse confounded, until the President came to the rescue, and saved Washington, by putting Mo- Clellan at the head of all the troops of all the Union armies around the city. We have now a concentrated army in front of the enemy, under “Fighting Joe Hooker;” and he, as well as the War Office, knows, or onght to know, from Gen. Lee’s campaign of last summer, how to baffle him in his pre- sent designs of repesting the same opera- tions over the same ground. The general condition of the rebellion is exceedingly desperate ; and Lee is imperatively called upon to attempt this desperate enterprise of another campaign against Washington, in the hope of turning the tide once more against us. He knows that if he should continue to etand still he is lost; and from his late trial of strategy with General Hooker, and from the reduction of the Union army by the losses of the regi- ments of our returning volunteers, and from the reinforcements brought forward to his own army, General Lee doubtless has strong hope of recovering, in @ single decisive blow in the East, all that bas been lost and all that is in danger of being lost to the rebellion in the West. We have no doubt that within a very few days we sball have intelligence of events in Virginia of commanding importance, and we hope thatthis time General Hooker and the War Office will be found equal in activity and sagacity to the movements and the strategy of the skilful and daring commander of the rebel army. Our Army of the Potomac is ready to do its duty, and able thoroughly to chastise the presump- tuous enemy. Let General Hooker and the War Office do their duty, and the advance of Lee’s army will only precipitate the general collapse of the rebellion. Surrressep Wan Desratcuss—There is a very easy way of remedying the system of censorship now exercised at Washing- ton over the telegraphic despatches forwarded to the press, which results in such annoy- ances as that which was commented on in our paper of yesterday by the agent of the As- sociated Prese in Washington. Let the army comespondents of the news, papers be récognized by some badge, so that all may know them, and the government need have no fear that the news they send will be “ mischievous and reprebensible.” Let their names appear on their despatches, as we pub- lish them on their letters, and let the news- paper proprietors be beld responsible for their publication. The government will thus be saved from all responsibility; that will fall on the newspapers and the authors of the des patches. Such 4 method would satisfy both the preas and the public. It would put & stop to speculation in Wall street and elsewhere; for the telegraph is now used for speculative and NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1863. , Tennessee and half of Virginia re- deemed; Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and half of Flotida essentially” in’ Gur possetsion; a slice of North Carolina ours, and Mississippi in the balance—such are’the results; and yet the miserable partisan spouters tell thelr audiences that we are no nearer'tg the end of the war than we were two years ago. From the glance we havo given, any one not blinded by party zeal Fa ei that, though fewer brilliant vic- tories have been gained than were expected, we have made steady and great progress. to- wards the accomplishment of the objects of the war,and are now in the position to strike a blow that will do it more harm than any one blow has yet\done. So much for the territorial aspects of the situation; but, as we have said above, the rebel armies are now the important objective points. Here also our progress has been great; for the rebellion in this respect is in such a position that at any one of ‘the three points—right, left or contre—we are able to strike almost at its life; and the overthrow of a rebel army at any one of these points would now be vastly more disastrous to the rebellion than it could have been at this time last year. only to the initiated, and the public are abused almost daily in this way. 7% The present system of censorship only half does the business it was intended for, and is more of a nuisance than a benefit, either to the government, the press or the people. The Milttary Situation. About two years ago General Scott started |, “the grand army of the United States” on its march southward, by way of Virginia, to ‘hold, occupy anfl possess the property and places belonging to the government,” and to take care that “the laws of the Union should be faithfully executed in all the States.” Since that we have had a succession of battles, of greater or less extent, with advances and retreats in- numerable, and not less than half a million men have been lost to the country in ali ways. After so much endeavor, in what position is the wart Practically we may now consider the rebel- lion as represented by about three hundred and fifty thousand effective sojdiers. Aside from its armies, the rebellion has no vitality, and those ‘armies are consequently the true object- ive points. They are in the field at Fredericks - burg, 'Petersburg and Staunton, in Virginia; at Goldsboro and Wilmington, in North Carolina; at Charleston, in South Carolina; at Savannah, in Georgia ; at Tallakassee, in Florida; at Mon- ticello, in Kentucky; at Knoxville, Shelbyville and Chattanooga, in Tennessee; at Madison, Jacksonport and Little Rock, in Arkansas; at Mobile, at Port Hudson and at Vicksburg. we have thus named eighteen points, the force at some of them is quite small, and might, for any importance in the points them- selves, be ‘smaller; for the whole struggle is now concentrated really im five theatres of operations, and the theatres of primary -im- portance are fewer still; for the positions at Goldsboro and Wilmington are merely the ac- knowledgment of a weakness there, and the po- sitions at Petersburg and Staunton are of equally small account—certainly tho latter. Marmaduke’s position at Madison, in Arkansas, and Pegram’s at Monticello, in Kentucky, both depend—like the fortunes of the cele- brated Guppy—upon “circumstances over which they have no control.” Those positions will be fought for on other fields. Fredericks- burg, Vicksburg, the centre of the line between these two in Tennessee, and the position at Charleston—which practically may be counted as one with that at Savannah—are the great points, the points at which the war appears to culminate. In fact, the rebellion may be re- garded as drawn up on one immense field. It faces to the northwest and its rear rests upon the Atlantic and the Guif of Mexico. Lee holds the right above Richmond; Johnston and Pemberton between them hold the left at Vicks- burg; Bragg and Buckner hold the centre, and the reserve, under Beauregard, is at Savannah and Charleston, ready to be sent anywhere, and in a position to guard the approaches in that direction, if indeed this reserve has not already been sent elsewhere. Against the rebel right, as thus indicated, we have hitherto directed our matn effort neither well nor wisely—not for any good reason, since it is not%& decisive point, either topographically or strategically. In this we have been gov- erned by a vague notion that we ought to take the enemy’s capital. But the Southern States are not France—they have no Paris. They have no capital except as they choose to name a town as a place of assembly for their rulers. Riehmond was probably de- signated as the seat of government to invite advance in that direction, and to the war as much as possible in Virginia and out of the States more deeply interested in the con- test. As for the prestige we might gain by the capture of an enemy’s capital, it is not an equiva- lent for the loss of sixty thousand men. Yet with the Bull ran campaign, the peninsular campaign, Pope’s impotent attempt, Burnside’s repulse and Hooker’s horrible catastrophe, we have lost at least that many in the attempt, and still the rebel right is essentially where it was. All that we have done against it has been to the advantage of the rebels, and the prestige, which was more to them than to us, is all theirs. Against their centre we have had more sueo- cess. By the operations fn Western Virginia, and from the capture of Fort Donelson onward, | ave have pushed it, with varying fortunes, to the northern line of the Gulf States, and it- rests not far north of that. Every great battle fought there has been completely in our favor. Hooker and Rosecrans now respectively watch these points on the right and centre. Their business is to stand still, perhaps to threaten— but above all to hold fast. Hooker is perhaps soon to be tried again. It is for him to see that the rebel right, under Lee, does not ad- vance into the free States and achieve the succeas by which it expects to balance the dis- aster that is to fall upon it in the West. Rose- crans, who is a hard fighter, without a soubri- quet, and who has plenty of brains, without pre- tence, will do his part with quiet tenacity. Upon the rebel left we began our operations well with Captain Nathaniel Lyon, who would have closed up matters in that direction very shortly ifhe had been given the entire com- mand there. But the romantic tastes of the period had to be pandered to, and Lyon, who was not at all romantic, gave way to Fremont, who was. Then followed an avalanche of er- rors. #remont was swept from his official feet Increased Activity of the Rebel Priva- teers—Indifference of the Navy Depart- inemt. We yesterday published « list of six of our merchant vessels which have been recently captured off our coast by the privateer Clarence—a tender of the Florida. We give this morning the particulars of further depre- dations\on the Atlantic by the new privateer Georgia, while from the South Pacific we have received by the Ocean Queen accounts of the ‘commencement of privateering operations in ing ‘been Meatroyed by @ rebel orniser, and another being hotly chased by her when last seen, Some four or five weeks since our London correspondence made mention of the fact that two fast steamers, supposed to be rebel priva- teers, had left the Clyde for the Pacific. Although there was hardly time for either of these vessels to be employed in the operations described, there is no doubt that they are now actively engaged in capturing and destroying our Eagt India and China merchantmen. Each of the latter, with her cargo, is worth from half a million to a million of dollars, and many of them will be sent to the bottom of the ‘ocean before there is a possibility of any of our cruisers arriving for their protection. Of the preparations made to give increased scope to the ravages of the rebel privateers in that and other quarters we have evidence in the news brought by the British ship Bucepbalus, from which it appears that, previous to her departure from Bahia, an English bark, the Castor, had arrived out there with coal and ammunition for the Georgia, the authorities, it should be added, compelling both. vessels to leave the port. Their object had, however, been accomplished by being enabled to rendezvous there. From these facts, and from the plan adopted by the Alabama and Florida of converting the clippers which they seize into privateers or decoys to cover their movements, it may be calculated that the aggregate of our losses at sea from these depre- dations will within the next three months far exceed that of any similar period since the com- mencemeat of the war. All these probabilities we have long vainly endeavored to impress upon the attention of the Navy Department; and at length it has ventured to act upon them; for by our despatches last night wevsee that Mr. Welles has sent four’ ships from this port and three from Hampton Roads to encounter the rebel pri- vateers. Bnt we cannot get over the fact that two of the fastest steamers on the ocean— the Atlantic and the Baltic, whieh have been lying here idle for months, and which were built with a view to the probability of their being converted into vessels-of-war—have been repeatedly offered to the government for the protection of our commerce by Captain Com- stock, on, the sole condition of its furnishing the guns, ammunition and‘ coal required, Can there'be a stronger commentary on the slug- gishness and imbecility that preside over the administration of our naval affairs ? Tue Hearn ov Ovr Armies wy THE Sovra.— It is a remarkable faet that the regiment of Wilsun Zouaves, which returned to this city a few days ago from the war, came back almost as strong as they went out. Considering the length of service, the numerous actions ‘were in, and the eflmate of the extreme south of Louisiana, their numbera were very slightly diminished. This not only proves the care which Colonel Wilson must have bestowed upon his men, but it shows also how much such sanitary measures as General Butler establish- edin New Orleans, and which General Banks is now inaugurating, can do in preserv- ing the health of the army by expell- ing yellow fever and other epidemics, If similar measures were taken in other mili- tary departments there is no reason why our soldiers could not live as well and as comfortably in any Southern city as in the North, even in the heat of summer. New Regiments ror tut War.—There are now organizing in this State no less than twen- ty-flye new regiments. Asa liberal bounty is offered for enlistment, there can be very little doubt that they will soon be all filled up. at last, and the enemy was driven from Mis- Many of the returned soldiers,men who have souri, beaten at Pea Ridge, and now stands at | served two years or nine months, and bay by the “City on the Hill,” where he holds | will make the very best material, will join with almost the power of despair his last point campaign in the spirit in which it nas been so far carried on, and Vicksburg will pe ous, and the rebellion will lose by that one blow half of analogies or the lessons of past at least so far ae the Eastern pr gery a cerned. It was generally supposed that the effect of the embassy which the Japanese government sent to this country and to Burope would have the effect of impressing it with the advantages of Karopean and American civilisation, and of indueing ft to cultivate the closest and friend- lest relations with all the Powers thus visited. Now, from the bitter feeling manifested against Europeans, and the determined resistance made to the demands of the English, we must arrive at one or other of two conclusions—either that the Japanese sre not so favorably impressed. with what their envoys witmessed during their that quarter, one of our merchant vessels hav-: travels, and consequently desire to persist in thelr pb - policy of excluding forelgners, or that they believe that Fee paps ae of the two Governments are f in een and that their object is merely to gobble up Japan; as France is now gobbling up Mexico. If the lat- ter is their idea, it. is mot.far from the truth. Let either or both of .these Powers obtain foot- holdin their country, and it will soon lose ite independence. That’ the Japanese do not ex- hibit the same jealous suspicions and apprehen- sions of us arises from the fact that their en- voys had penetration enough to discover that the policy of our government is not that of ex- tension, but conservation. Rosecrans as a General. At the commencement of the war the rebel government had go much military talent on ts hands that it hardly knew what to do with it. General R. E. Lee, in particular, was almost as much of a bother in Richmond as he has since been in better places, &nd he was quietly given the command in Western Virginia to get him outof theway. General Rosecrans had them succeeded to the principal, command of the Union forces there, and thus it happened that be was the first of our generals to try conclu- sions with Lee. By the brilliant sotions which first brought General McClellan prominently before the country much had been done te weaken the rebel hold upon that distelct; yet Floyd was still rampant, Wise not less so, and Lee, to strengthen all, had put them in positions from which it seemed impossible that they could be driven. From hill after hill, however, they were compelled to retire in most unseemly haste, and almost without the opportunity to fight. In the lightof the fame that Lee has since won it is. certainly greatly to the honor of Rosecrans that he clearly proved himself the superior soldier—so clearly, that it was a pub- lic acknowledgement in the South that the “ill- fated campaign in Western Virginia had ended ina blaze of glory for the Yankees.” After this Lee was given by the rebel government an important command in the East, and by our government Rosecrans was effectually keptout © of sight for a year. Such men, however, will come up some time, and Rosecrans came up again at the battle of L-u-k-a, September 19, 1862. Sterling Price had manoeuvred with some success towards the Ten- nessee, with the hope to operate in Bragg’s favor against Buell, and had taken possession of Lu-k-a with that end in view. Rosecrans ar- ranged for a joint advance of his own command and column under General Ord against Price at I-u-k-a, marched twenty miles on the day of battle, came upon Price’s flank at four P. M, and engaged at once with great impetuosity. Though Ord’s column did not come to time, Price was driven from his position by Rosecrans alone, and escaped by a retreat at night across the line of Ord’s advance. It was a simple affair, but was arranged with consummate skill and executed with great vigor. Close upon this followed the great and decisive battle at Corinth—October 3 and 4—- where Resecrans fought the combined forces of Van Dorn, Price, Lovell, Vill. pigue and Rust—thirty-eight thousand in number. He had under his own command about half that aumber of men, and he gave the enemy a terrible defeat. It devolved upom General Rosecrans to show in this battle that he could hold a position as well ashe could carry one. Against the centre of bis ‘line the that of Rosecrans, and we have here, thus far, an anticipation’ of what recently occurred in the Vilderness, near Chancellorville. But here the parallel ends; for the rebels who thus broke his order and drove his: right found that Rose- crans was not to be beaten by one blow. Even while they drove his right he advanced his right. By the terrible fire of this centro the rebel masses were staggered and driven back and the army saved from complete destruction. After eleven hours of battle, however, the rebels had the best of it; but Rosecrans never thought of retreat. On the next day he en- deavored to advance his right, and also pushed his left out to guard against a rebel advance there. By nightof the second day he held only the ground he had held before the fight began at-all, and then on the third day he advanced =~ his left. One more desperate but vain attempt : that advance was made by the rebels, and then they betook themselves to precipitate retreat. About seven thousand men were lost on either side. Certainly, after that battle, if any general in our armies is entitled above others to the die- tinctive appellation of “ »”” Rosecrans ia the man. But be fs above any distinction that could be given by the vulgar olap-trap of niok- = names. His fame rests firmly upon actions that indicate « great military mind, a true genius for war, and an immovable purpose to hs go through with what he once begins. The National Finances. Puaperrma, June 14, 1968. ‘The general joan agent reports the sale of $1,200,000 five-twenties on Batarday, over one half being from Kea- ftecky and other Western States, which are coming ap nobly to the werk, The sales will continue increasing inegely up to the 1st of July, and there is little doubs that ‘eforts will De mado by capitalists and others to take large amounts for futare sales bere and abroad. Colored Treeps to be Mustered into the ’ Service. Hanamevro, Pa., June 14, 1863. Governor Curtin has isseed™a general order stating thet colored troops will be mustered into the service of the ‘Ueived Btates by the aathority of the War Department, nod forbiading colored men from leaving te Biase t0 jet, a