The New York Herald Newspaper, December 25, 1864, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETE, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR WFFICE N. W, CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. Votame XXIX b= x AMUSEMENTS TOMORROW EVENING, ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Irving place.—Fra Diavaro. BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway.—Tax Live Iv- Dian—Peorie’s Lawren NIBLO'S GARDEN, Broadway.—Fairy Cincua—In 4np Our or PLace—Barner 108 Bako, WINTER GARDEN, Broadway.—Haxucet, | OLYMPIO THEATRE, Broadway.—Tax Strexts oF ew Yous. NEW BOWERY THEAT keey ApBxsHaw—Cxoss Bowery.—Afterneon— or Deara—Suaer Stxaver. venIng—JERRY ABSRInAW—CkOSS OF DxaTH—KouERT Mscaine—Bisce Luau. -Afternoon—Lirrix Rep 3 LADDIN—ORLANDO VEN Doame—Four Lovans—Srikit or SevENTY-SiX, BARNUM’S MUSEUM, Broa: —PANoRAwA—THRER jammorn Fat Qrais—Tue, NTS—TWO DwAnrs— Onpians=Reence AvtoMatoNs, GRanp BPxcTACLEwDay sand Kvening. r BRYANTS’ MINSTRELS. Mechanics’ Hall. 472 Broad- (way.—Erniorian Soncs, Dances, Bua.esques, &0.—Las Misweanuxs. mons. ErtraRt BABE. 54 ee te Bau AsQUE—TRE es — ape Goes: THLOPLAN Gs, Danons, &0. OAMPBELL'S MINSTRELS. 199 and 201 Bowery.—- ‘Vanixp axp Excinna Muuanas or Ergiorian Oppitias— SK AND GANDER. SALLE DIABOLIQUE, 585 Broadway.—Rosrat Hetize, VAN AMBURGH & CO.'S MAMMOTH MENAGERIE, 839 and 541 Broadway.—Oven from 10 A, M. to 10 P, M. WALLACK'S TREATRE, Broadway.—Masxs anp Facks HIPPOTHEATRON, Fourteenth atreet.—Equastrian, GYRKASTIC AND ACROBATIC ENTERTAINMENTS. HARLEQUIN Brvwwsary, TURKISH HALL, 720 Broadway.—Oscaran’s Onmentat SBurKRTALNOCRNT. seat AMERICAN THEATRE, No. 444 Broadway.—Bavcers, Pantomimes, Buresgues, &¢, Afternoon aad Evening— Hartequin Buoreranp. VANNUCHI'S MUSEUM, 600 Broadway.—Moving Wax Ficui ANZ MULLER, New York, Sunday, December 25, 1864. THE SITUATION. ‘We have no later news from General Sherman’s army. ‘But despatches received in Washington last night state ‘that yosterday’s Richmond papors contain a rumor that ‘Charleston, 5. C., has been evacuated by the rebels. Itis Possidle that the despatch should read Savannah instead of Charleston, as there is no apparent reason why the rebels should evacuate the latter place just now, ‘Two days later intelligencefrom Wilmington, N. C., is given in the Richmond papers of yesterday, ‘hey state tbat on Friday afternoon, the 234 tmst., twenty-six ves- Sols of the Union fleet were in sight below that place, ‘Dut that no attempt bad yet been made to land troops or attack the forts, owing to the stormy weather. General Hoke’s rebel division, belonging to Long-.| street's corps, left the front of the Army of the James on last Thursday. It is supposed that it has gone to reinforce Bragg at Wilmington, or to assist in the defence of Charleston. General Ord, commanding the Twenty- Mourth corps, on receipt of the news of Thomas’ ‘victories before Nashville, issued an order to his troops reciting the important intelligence, and Concluded by proposing “Three cheers for Gen- etal Thomas’ army.” There are still no military smovements of particular importance in either of the two armies on the James river to chronicle, On last Thurs. day, (or the first day in come time, there was vory little Miring by the rebels on the Dutch Gap canal, The Richmond Dispatch of tbe 22d inst. reports that Genera! Palmer, with a division of Union jofantry anda Dattalion of artillery, has occupied Bower Hull, eight ‘miles east of Portsmouth, Va., for the purpose, it ie sup- posed, of operating against Weldon, N. C. From the Shenandoah valley we learn that General Custer, on last Thursday, made an attack, nine miler Borth of Hhrrisonburg , on the rebel cavalry under Rosser, who has lately been making demonstrations indicatiag an fntention to attempt another raid in Western Virginia. ‘The Richmond papers are greatly alarmed by the move- ‘ments of some of Sheridan’s men who were recently ope. rating east of the Blue Ridge. They say that on last Wed nesday from four to eight thousand cavalry from his army arrived at Madison Court tscuse, and moved on towards Gordonsville, for the purpose, s8 suppoeed, of making an Attack on that place, as well as destroying a portion of the Virginia Central Railroad. The telegrapn wires are said to have been cut on the preceding night, seven miles from Gordonsville. These papers also state that Sheri- dan’s infantry has moved up the valley to point be- tween iiarrisouburg and New Market, and that Early has marched out to meet them. ‘Nothing later in reference to General Thomas’ pursuit Of Hood's rebele than was contained in the despatches published in yesterday’s Heratp has been received. The steamship George Cromwell, from New Orleans on the 17th inst , arrived here yesterday. Our despatches contain ax inveresting eccoupt of the arrival at New Or Jeans of tbree hundred and forty exchanged Union sol diers receotly confined at Camp Groce, Texas, an- pounced in yesterday’s Herstp, The United Statoa gunboat Narcissus, while at anchor in Mobile Bay, on the night of the 7th inst., was biown out of the water by the explosion under her of a rebel tor- pedo, No person on board was killed, and only three ‘wore injured, by scalding. AN her officers and crew, as ‘well as ber guns, stores, ammunition, &c., were rescued Dy other vessels of the flect, and she herself can be raised witbout much trouble, as the water im which she ‘went down is only eight feet deep. The managers of a ladies’ fair in New Orleans baving objected to the display of the national flag in their rooms, on the ground ‘that it was a ‘political symbolf’ General Hurlbut bad Gent an official note to sald managers, informing them that the Star Spangled Banner is the “symbol of the Sovereignty of the pation under whose protection they are," aod directing that it be immediately placed over the principal entrance within their hall, or that their fair ‘De at once closed. The instant arrest of any person show- Sing Gisrespect to the flay was also ordered. Our correspondent in the Bahamas, writing on the 19th of December, states that there were fifteen steamers in tbe port of Nassau waiting an opportunity to run the Dicckade at Charleston and Wilmington. The new Governor of the Babamas bad arrived trom New York, and his first act was to seize, in the name of the British government, the steamship Alexandra, made famous by the law trial concerning her, thev in the The Anglo-rebel steamer Virginia bad brought im a cargo of barbor awaiting service as @ blockade runner. cotton from Wilmington, which was at once transferred en English ship for foreign use. The Virginia had taken @ cargo to the rebels, Some of the steamers at and off Nassau will make very valuable prizes for the Unson fest. Nassau was growing exceedingly rich in the rofite of the contraband irade, Two men wore killed on rd the blockade runner Star by an explosion of the St Albans raiders bad, up to Wednesday ‘n rearrested by the Canadian authorities, who fo in the belief that they will yet be able to vhole party. evidently with the design of crossing into ‘Thowe recaptured were travel: New Brunswick andred aad pwenty-six thousand dollars A Montreal paper says thousand dollars were plundered from them by persons who took them prisoners or gave them shelter after their arrival across the Canadian border. Late rebel papers contain additional accounts of the damage effected by General Davidson and his ‘‘merrie men” in their recent galloping raid from Baton Rouge, Ta., across the soutbera portions of four of tho five Gulf States. Among other work, they tore up considera- bie track on the Mobile and Ohio and Mobile and Great Northern Railroads. We yesterday announced their safe arrival at Pascagoula, Fla. The rebel City Marshal of Atlanta, who recently returned to that town, makes & statement which indicates that it must havo suffered quite as mueh from the Georgians them- selves as from General Sherman’s army. He says:—'‘There bave been from fifty to three hundred wagons per day'in Atlanta since the fedorals left, haul- ing off iron, ferniture, wagons, window blinds, door Jocks, books, lumber, &o., amounting to about fifteen hundred wagon loads. They come from fifty to one hun- dred miles in every direction.” A good deal of space in the rebel abeets is occupied just now in lamentations over the disasters which have falion upon the arms of the coniederacy. EUROPEAN NEWS. The steamahip Peruvian, from Londonderry on the 16th of December, passed Cape Race yesterday afternoon, on her voyage to Portland, Me, She was boarded by our news agent, and telegraphic summary of her advices, which are five days later, forwarded from Newfoundland, appears in the Herat to day. ‘the mails of the steamship Africa, which left Queens. town on the Lith inst., reached this city from Boston lags night. ‘The pews of Sherman’s advance in Georgia had been pubiished in England, and was regarded as of the highest importance. Hood’s operations in Tennessee, 80 far as ard of, were also looked on as of much consequence, ‘Tho Londvi 7imes thinks}:bat negotiations (European, it is to be presumed,) respecting the American war must be opened soover or later, and recommends that it be 036 at once. Consols closed in London at 89 3-169 8944 for money. The Liverpool cotton market was unchanged during three days. Hreadstuils were steady, Provisions were look- ing downward. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. ‘The steamship Mariposa, from Key West on the 20th instant, arrived at this port yesterday, By this arrival we learn that the investigation iato the case of the mutiny on board the bark Annie M. Gray, noticed in Friday’s Heravp, bas for the present ceased. In tho aflray second mate John Smith, of Philadelphia, was wounded, and subsequently died. His assailant was named Kelley, iS We are glad to see that our article in yesterday morn- ing’s Heap in reference to the salting of the streets by the railroad companies has been so soon productive of good to the city and citizens. The Mayor yesterday sent to the two boards of the Common Council a communica. tion recommending the enactment of an ordinance impos fog a penalty of five hundred dollars for every case of sprinkliog salt in our thoreughfares by the railroad folks. The Aldermen immediately took the suggestion into con- sideration, and enacted am ordinance of the character Proposed by tis Honor, James Norris, the leader of the Port Jervis counter- feiters, was sentenced yesterday by Judge Shipman, in the United States Circuit Vourt, to five years’ hard labor im the State Prison. The case which was commenced in the Brooklyn City Court on last Thuraday, wherem Miss Underhill prosecutes her sister and nephew for alleged forcible detention, at their instigation,in the Bloomingdale Lunatic asylum, ‘was continued yesterday, and, on the adjournment of the court, postponed till Tuesday next. Some of the testi. mony is very interesting, particularly that of Dr. Brown, of the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum. That gentleman testified that one of the leading papers of this city wes edited by the lunatics of that ingtitution, which will ac. count for the singular vagaries of eome of our contempo- raries, The case will probably last several days, asa large pumber of witnesses have yet to be examined. A man named David Barry was yesterday arrested and committed to prison at the Essex Murket Police Court, charged with having been for som : time past carrying on @ preity extensive business 1 carting off valuable articles which he found lying on the piers along the Kast river. Among other things alleged to bave been stolen by him are two chain cables, worth four hundred dollars; a Steam boiler weighing three tons, valued at two hundred and fifty dollars; loads of sbip knees, &. The Coroner’s investigation into the causes of the dis- aster on the New Haven Railroad, in the upper part of the city, on the 10th of October last, was conciuded on Friday, after having “dragged its slow length along’’ through many weeks. Atter a charge of great length the case was given to the jury, whose verdict has not yet been made public. The damage by the fire at Nos, 53, 55, 57 and 50 Beek- man street on Thursday night was much more extensive than was at the time supposed. It is now estimated at three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Four persons were killed and fifteen or iweuty wounded by the sic g through the bridge at Hudson, Ohio, on Friday, of passenger train on the Pittsburg and Cleve- land Railroad, The stock market partially recovered from the pre- vious decline yesterday. Government securities were steady. Gold opened at 220%, and closed at 238%. Business was almost at a stand on Saturday, ths ap- prosch ofthe holidays intensifying the dulness which previously prevailed. Cotton was a shade lower, Pe- troleum was nominal. On "Change flour was dall and fully 10c. lower. Wheat was also lower, prices having declined 2c, 3c, while oats were firmer. Pork epeved heavier, but closed firm. Beef was unchanged. Lard was heavy and drooping. Whiskey was without decided change. Freights were quiet. Astounding Military and Naval Devel- opments im the United States. For several years before the rebellion ac- tually commenced, the turbulent insurrection- ary leaders of the South had fired the hearts of the people in that section with an irreconcila- ble feeling of hostility against the North. War being deemed inevitable, all the then available warlike resources of the South were called into requisition; the military academies were filled with ardent tempered cadets; the military magazines were replenished, arms were furnished to volunteer companies, the drilling of infantry, the practice of artillery, and the evolutions of cavalry, were carried on day and night, and the whole martial element of a warlike population was fully and thoroughly aroused. Long before the North had brightened a musket for the conflict the South bad an armed and well disciplined force .of from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand men ready for the field, with a friendly and enthusiastic home population to aid, cheer and comfort them. Sumter fell. Forts on the sea coast surrendered one by one; navy yards were captured, ships-of-war were destroyed by the score, arsenals and other military depots in the interior were given up on demand, and there was scarcely @ spot in the South where the American flag could be flown without being subject to insult and deri- sion. A fiery meteor seemed to have shot athwart the Southern sky and eclipsed every estar that had before shone there resplendently in the constellation of the American Union. The North was taken literally by surprise. Though cautioned by the Heratn long in ad- vance to prepare for the bursting storm, and gird up its loins for a fierce and bloody encounter with desperate men, the warning was unheeded. Finally, the national eapital was menaced. The disaster at Bull run oc- curred, followed by others, which caused for the moment a sad but not a paralyzing sensa- tion among the people of the North. Then came apen them the consciousness that they wero no carpet knights who challenged them to battle, bunt warlike men, bent upon and pre- pared by all the means at their command to overturn the government of the Union, and establish upon its ruins one of their own pecu- liar moulding. Then the North became fully conscious of the dangers that environed the national existence; and then the Northern people, with all their strength, all their patri- otism, all their wealth and all their devotion to the land and the iustitutions of their fathers, sprang to arms. A more glorious spectacle than this was never before beheld in the his- tory of any nation, in ancient or modern times. Without efficient organization or military strength anywhere; with but few generals of tried and unquestionable loyalty; with treachery lurking undex the flag in almost every sea where an American man-of- war was cruising or stationed; with a national credit that was in constant danger of collapsing under improper and injudicious tinkering, the stern and steady pulsations of the national heart never ceased. Now see what has been accomplished by the North in about three years. Troops have volun- teered by the hundreds of thousands, ships-of- war, of new and most formidable character, have been constructed; fleets of transports, almost exceeding the fabled mumber that his- tory tells us once floated upon the bosom of the figean sea, have been employed for the transit of troops along an immense line of sea coast, and forthe occupation of seaports recaptured; forts have been retaken in naval enterprises without a parailel for courage and daring in the naval history of the world; the navy yards have all been restored, most of the arsenals and military depots have been reclaimed; greater, perhaps, than all, the rebels have been defeated in almost all the great battles of the war, and @ vast extent of country, once under rebel rule, has been regained by the aid of the most mas- terly combinations that ever won for a great military genius a page in the annals of martial events. The rebellion has proved the marvellous strength of the North and the actual weakness of the South. It has produced generals and other military beroes in the North who have met the proudest of the Southern chivalry, and it is no humiliation or disgrace to the latter to. say they have foiled them in strategy, equalled them in bravery, withstood privations and fatigue as resolutely, and whipped them in fair and square fights. Positively, the rebels have but one sound general left. He is Gen. Robert E. Lee, and he is checkmated by Grant. Hood is flying before the victorious legions of Thomas, emphatically—if the feminine figure may be pardoned—a worsted Hood. Bragg is laid up in ordinary at Richmond, occasionally show- ing symptoms of vitality—recently by admon- ishing the people of Georgia to throw obstruc- tions in the way of Sherman. Breckinridge, after a little flurry in East Tennessee, suddenly finds himself scant of forage and ammunition, being compelled to mould the latter over twice. Longstreet is on the shelf, scar covered; Har- dee is invested in Savannah; Beauregard is floundering somewhere between Charleston and Savannah, with the loss of his communi- cations; Wheeler, who, according to rebel ac- counts, “managed Kilpatrick with all ease,” is busy picking up Sherman’s disabled and aban- doned horses and mules. Dick Taylor is a very noisy and a rapid worker; but he never has amounted to much beyond his early brilliant dashes, when the transition from his former life of indolence to one of activity moved his friends with a sensation of astonish- ment, and—but we cannot pursue the record further, fearing we may tread upon the manes of some of the brave, but misguided, dead rebel generals, 80 many have fallen lately. What a contrast does this dismal picture pre- sent with the array of great and victorious generals the Union records present! Briefly, it is only necessary to mention the names of Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Meade, Foster, Sheri- dan, Stoneman, Canby, Hanceck, Custer, Rous- seau, Milroy, Stanley, Butler—we expect soon to hear more of the latter—and many other military celebrities of the war, to show that the balance sheet on the score of the military capacity of the generals is greatly in favor of the Union side; while a glance at the condi- tion of the armies of each, taken in connection with our unparalleled navy, under such gallant commanders as Farragut, Dupont, Porter, Dabl- gren, Winslow, and otber naval heroes—the rebels have ‘no navy, nothing but a parcel of piratical cralt, fugitives on the ocean—must satisfy every mind not embittered by sectional prejudice that the Union cause is now, after but a little more than three years’ experience in fighting, triumphantly onward, while that of the blinded and misled rebels is hopelessly past salvation. If the North is able te perform so much in three or four years, what may be expected of it in a few years more? Financia anp DipLomatic “Sanrtary Com- missions” at Once Nekpep—Tue Sorprens’ Home AGatx.—TIf the assistance of the Sani- tary Commission be necessary to the govern- ment in the present advanced stage of our mili- tary equipment and completeness, why should we not have volunteer “commissions” for the purpose of helping out the authorities in all branches of the public service? If some Wall street philanthropists, for instance, would start a Financial Sanitary Commission for the pur- pose of enabling Mr. Fessenden to do some- thing like justice to the public credit, would not that be a good idea? There should also be a Diplomatic Sanitary Commission, charged with the special duties of strengthening Secre- tary Seward’s spine, and suppressing the Che- valier James Watson Webb, in our intercourse with all foreign countries. Above all there should be a Naval Sanitary Commission, having under its charge the perpetual stirring up of the venerable Secretary of the Navy and the overhauling of all contracts made by him for the construction of monitor-built and other iron-clad vessels. If the voluntary principle of the Sani- tary Commission be so good a thing in the Medical Department of our armies at this late day, why not apply it to all other matters needing public control? Let us have @ corps of volunteer ordnance and engineer officers at once, who shall be self-dele- gated to the duty of “supplementing the deficiencies of the regular service” in this very uncomplimentary way. As the military estab- lishment is at presemt constituted, we need outside help just as much in one department as in the other; while there will be this advantage about the volanteer ordnance agents and superintendents—that they will have no temp- tation to consume themselves the stores placed under their care for other purposes. We have not yet heard from Dr. Agnew, or the Sanitary Commission Directory, relative to the two bundred and fifty thousand dollars out of the million of dollars received from the New ™ ee NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, the inauguration of an experimental “Soldiers’ Home.” In this the Commiasion does itself wrong. If it has purchased a location for its new enterprise, the public should know the fact; and if all the money collected at that and other similar Fairs has been expended in high salaries to useless agents, this fact, too, would not be without very lively public interest. Let us know the exact con- dition of the “Soldiers’ Home” question, in 80 far as relates to any action taken, or proposed to be taken, by the gentlemen of that board. It is from sincere friendliness to the Sanitary Commission, and from knowing how much they suffer from this silence on essential points, that we urge @ prompt and full explanation. Our columns are waiting to receive Dr. Agnow’s card of explanation. “Bounty Swindiing as One of the Fine Artse”—Its Origin and Officers in the Days or King Hemry IV. To say that many of the public men and most of the newspapers of the day, are great nincompoops, would be merely to state a truism with which every intelligent American is already as familiar as with his creed. We have an illustration of this in re- gard to the fuss that is being everywhere made about “bounty swindling,” as if it were “a new erime,” a “heretofore unbeard of atrocity,” which was born within the last year anda balf, and received its first pap within the pro- eincts of a New York drinking house, Now, the fact is that we first hear of “bounty swindling as one of the fine arts” in the reign of King Henry IV., of England, the “headquarters” in which it originated being those of Brigadier General Sir John Falstaff, and their location the tavern of “mine hostess Quickly,” in Gheapside, London. The facts of this interesting historical case are about as follows:—Jefferson Hotspur had raised an insur- rection in the Northern counties of England, as Jefferson Davis has since raised an insurrec- tion in the Southern States of our country. Jeff. Hotspur expected help from Owen Glen- dower, of Wales, from Northumberland, France, and various other foreign and domes- tic potentates, just as Jeff. Davis recently ex- pected help from France, England, and the domestic Longs, Voorheeses and ‘Vallandig- hams of the great Northwest. Both the Jeffs were disappointed, and in both cases the regu- lar powers of their respective governments proceeded to “seize, occupy and repossess” the revolted strongholds and regions. King Henry IV., however, did not fall into the error of believing that “it wouldn’t be much of a shower after all;”’ ner did his Secre- tary of State, the Earl of Westmoreland, give any gote of hand for “peace within ninety days.” These matters are not so atated in the ebronicles; but we infer them from the fact that there was no call for “three months men” on the first breaking out of the Jeff. Hotspur ineurrection. The order was to call out men, and call them out’ immediately, their term of service to extend “for life or during the war.’’ Matters being thus, the Prince of Wales, a gay, young, rollicking buck—who had keen percep- tions of the ludicrous and knew how to use all ranks and classes of men in their proper sphere—determined to employ the well known tavern popularity of a lewd old knight named Sir John Falstaff for the purpose of raising a brigade. Sir Joho immediately saw it was “a big thing,” and accepted accordingly. He at ence opened his recruiting depot in the tavern of Mrs, Quickly, of Cheapside; and there were employed under him, as sub-brokers, runners and “sbanghaers,” a choice party, consisting of Captains Pistol, Bardolph, Gadshill, Poins and their associates, most of these being highway- men, baggage smashers, pickpockets and plug- uglies—precisely the same class. that we find employed in the same business on this side of the Atlantic. It nowhere appears that Sir John Fal- staff was court martialed, although we know that he was finally sent to the Tower— the Fort Lafayette of those days—under a summary order irom the Lord Chief Justice of England, who declared a suspension of the ha- beas corpus in his case. The only evidence, therefore, that we can hope for as to the modus operandi of this ancient knight in the mat- ter of “bounty swindling as one of the fine arts,’’ we must take from his own volunteered confession, in Scene 2, Act IV., of the vera- cious chronicles of the reign of King Henry IV., as handed down to us by one William Shakspere—a rather able journalist of those days—who wrote for an evening newspaper called The Globe Theatre, which was the New Yorx Herarp of that benighted age. Now let us hear Sir John:—He confesses, after his brigade has been raised, that he has “misused the king’s pregs’’—i. m, the right of conscription—“damnably.” “I have pressed me,” says he, “none but good householders, yeo- men’s sons; inquired me out contracted bache- lors, such as had been asked twice on the bans; such @ commodity of warm slaves, as had as lief hear the devil as a drum; such as fear the report of a culverin worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild duck. I pressed me none but such toasts and butter, with hearts in their bellies no bigger than pins’ heads; and they have bought out their services! And now, my whole charge consists of ancients, corporals, slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the glutton’s dogs licked his sores; and such as indeed were never soldiers, but discarded unjust serving men, revolted taps- ters and ostlers trade-fallen—the cankers of a calm world and a long peace; ten times more dishonorably ragged than an old-faced ancient; and such have I to fill up the room of them that have bought out their services, that you would think that I had a hundred and fifty tattered prodigals lately come from swine keeping—from eating draff and husks! A mad fellow met me on the way, and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the dead bodies! No eye hath seen such seare- crows.” Now, let the examining surgeons on our own Hart’s and Riker’s islands and else- where be consulted as to whether the fore- going be not an exact and striking picture of the kind of recruits who were submitted to their inspection as the results of our own “bounty swindling” system in this country ? But not only was tbe ancient knight thus making, in the words of our beloved and clas- sical President, a “big thing” out of the price paid by those whom he exempted, but it would also seem that he had a bouoty of over two pounds in gold for each man thus drafted—a bounty which he seems to bave absorbed altogether, and which, as gold was then, and as greenbacks are now, must be con- sidered fully equal to the three hundred dol- lars county bouaty of the present day. “I Vouk Lait, which were to have boon devoted to = have got,” says he, referring to the Suvervi- 1864, sors’ Committee of that remote age, “I have got, in exchange of's hundred and fifty sol- diers, three hundred and odd pounds sterling;” these hundred and fifty men being the same from whom he subsequently drew a double profit by allowing them to “buy out their time.” But the parallel does not end here. In fact, there is no branch of the “bounty swindling” system of to-day which will not find in the operations of Sir John Falstaff, of his Britannic Majeaty’s Volunteers, a precise arche- type and master-sample. We know that much of the recruiting now carried on is through the agency of our police officers and justices, who place before all arrested crimi- nals in our city—save those arrested for crimes too heinous and notorious to be suppressed— the alternative either of enlistiag and allow- ing their bounties to go somewhere, or of go- ing themselves to the penitentiary or State prison. Now, in this mode of “filling up the ranks of the gallant defenders of our. country,” and filling their own pockets at the same time, these gentlemen may think themselves original; but let.them now hear the great master of “bounty swindling as one of the fine arts” on this subject:— We have seen that Sir John Faletaf first allowed the good and decent men dratted to “buy out their time,” himself pocketing the bribes, We'have seon, also, that he pecketed the whole of their “county, bounties’? for the. use -of bimself and his associate sub-buekers, + Messrs, Pistol, Bardolph and Company. How then did he induce the “scarecrows” to enlist under him without money and without price ? Why, obviously, by just the same means that are employed to-day by our policemen and po- lice justices: he gave them the alternative of remaining in jail or “marching to the music of the Union.” If you doubt it just consult his words:—‘“Nay, and the villains arch wide be- twixt the legs, as ifthey had gyves on; for, in- deed, I bad the most of them out of prison.” That he knew thom to be all thieves, or most of them at least, is further evidenced by the fact, that he consoles himself for their having “but a sbirt and a hali” in the whole brigade by the reflection: “But that’s all one; they’ll find linen enough on every hedge.” How they appeared tothe eye of an experienced com- mander may be judged from the exclamation of Prince Henry who passed them on the road ag he hurried forward to battle: “I never did see such pitiful rascals;” to which Sir Jobn Falstaff promptly replied : “Tush, tush! They are good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they will fill a pit as well as bet- ter;” thus illustrating precisely the value which certain of our modern knights, who only entered the service to make money, are apt to place, both on the lives of their men and the true service of their government. The Cotten Question in England—The Fears of the Manufacturers. ‘The last arrivals from England bring us in- telligence of the existence of much anxiety in ita commercial circles in relation to the cotton question. It is known tbat the price of the ar- ticle had declined of late, under the idea that the rebels could not be defeated, that their in- dependence would shortly be recognized, and that the foreign markets would then receive a large supply from the Southern States. It is believed that the aggregate depreciation in consequence of this view of the subject was all of $50,000,000, and it is so stated in well in- formed journals. But now, since the re-election of President Lincoln, the cotton speculators have formed the opinion that the war is to be protracted for several years, and that Southern cotton will not be obtainable except through the blockade runners. They therefore have advanced the price fully thirty per cent; and more than this, they have entered into new contracts in Egypt and India for further supplies on a large scale. And this notwithstanding heavy failures in the cotton trade have recently occurred in England, and that there is a large stock of the raw mate- rial on hand in excess of tha demand. The weekly deliveries and eonsumption for 1864 are estimated at thirty-one thousand seven hun- dred and sixty bales, while the arrivals are at the rate of forty thousand bales per week. The stock in first hands is three hundred and sixty thousand bales, and at sea, already purchased, are three hundred and fifty thousand more. The imports have, therefore, been about two millions of bales the past year, of which five hundred thousand have been shipped to other countries. This would show the manufactured and un- manufactured stock in second hands to be nearly a million of bales. Calling this quantity, however, nine hundred thousand bales, accord- ing to the estimate in a late English circular, each bale three hundred pounds, and the price two shillings sterling per pound, and the whole value is twenty-seven millions of pounds, or one hundred and thirty-five millions of dollars. Now, a fall of fifty per cent would imjure these holders to the extent of sixty-seven millions five hundred thousand dollars, or a less sum in pro- portion. Yet, notwithstanding this danger, it appears there is a large and active shipmeat from England of gold and silver to the East to buy more cotton at extravagant prices, and the fact -excites considerable attention and alarm. Well it may. Fer the contingency which the obsti- nate English merchants supposed not likely to happen, and which they jadged of, as usual, in the most stupid way, is now staring them in the face. Instead of a long continuance of the rebellion, they will find it to be near its close, and the stock of cotton on hand in this country will be liberated almost immediately atter its conclusion. When these obstinate and self willed operators hear of the defeat of Hood, of the triumphant march of Sherman, of the closing of the port of Wilmington and the final invest- ment ef Richmond, they will find out that Ame- rican cotton will very shorly be for sale in large quantities. So that the Egyptian and Indian speculations will, in all probability, preve a ecrious misfortune, and all those who have engaged in them will go by the board. The late arrivals bring us the news of further heavy failures, and when a jew moaths more shall have elapsed the number and amount of them will be greatly increased. We come to the conclusion that, in one way or other, England will, in the end, have paid dearly for her false and periidious policy to wards this country, and she will have brought her punishment on her awa sheet: * Inpianaro.ia, Dec, 23, 1864. Ata court martial recently convened here, Charles Hiliingsiey, Joho Murray, Thomas Ityan and Thomas Lennon were found guilty of desertion, and rentenced to be shot to-day. Talfgestence was carried into effect thin afternoon at Camp” side, near this city, upoo the firat three; the fourth has beem reaped by the Lresi- Anmt (or yon days, Religious Intelligence, SuRVICES TO-DAY. At St. Ana's Free Episcopal church, Eighteoath street, near Fifth avenue, the Rev. E. Benjamin will preach at & quarter to eight o’clook A. M., and the Rev. Dr. Galiau- dot at balf.past ten A. M., and at three and baif-past seven o'clock P. M., the afternoon service being for deaf mutes, It being Christmas Day, the communion will be administered at both the morning services. “Do all Persons who Die in Infancy go to Heaven?” ls the subject of Professor Smyth’s sermon at Clinton Hall, under the Mercantile Library, Astor plage, near Broad- way, at half-past seven o'clock im the evening. The rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., will preach iméhe Unitarian church, Fortieth street, between Fifth aud Sixth avenues, this evening, at balf-past seven o’clock. Morning aud even- ing services, with sermons, are held im the Rutgers knati- tute chapel, Fifth avenue, between Forty first aad Forty- second street, at half-past ten o’clock ta the morning, and ‘at three o’clock im the afternoon, The Rey. T, J. Sawyer, D. D., will preach a Christmas germon, in the Second Universalist church, corner of Seoond avenue aod Eleventh street, this morning, at @quarter past ten o’clock. Services in the evening, at half-past seven o'clock, Subjoot—“ What is Man?’ At the First Free Will Baptist church, Twenty-eight Street, near Broadway, the Rev. 0. 8, Perkins wiil preach. at half-past ten o’clock in the morning,‘and at half-past Soven in the evening. The childrea’s Christmas meeting will be held at two o'clock in, the afternoon, At the Memorial: church; “Hammond ‘street, corner of Waverley place, the Rov. Jono A. Aspinwall will preach this ev Services commence at half-past ten in the morning, half.past three in tho afternoon, and at baif-past seven O'clook in the evening. Thore will be services in the Now Jerusalem (Swedeo- borgian) churob, Thirty-first street (south side), botweoa Fourth and Lexington avenues, at’ half-past ton this morking and at balf-past seven o’clock in the evening. ‘This evening, the pastor, Név. Chauncey Giles, will com - monce a short course of lectures on the “incarnation, Atonement and Redemption.” | At the Churoh of the Holy Aposties, Ninth avenue and Twenty-cighth stroet, a Sunday evening service will be held at half-past seven o'clock, Subject—“The Word Taketh Flesh.” At the French Protestant Church du St. Esprit, West Twoaty-second street, near Fifth avenue, morning ser- vices in French, by the rector, the Rev. Dr. Verren, commencing at hali-past ten o'clock. ‘The congregation of (race church, Harlem, Rev, Wm. Mowbray, rector, worship every Sunday afternoon at three o'clock in the Methodist church, corner 119th street, in Second avenue. Wolsh preaching, by the Rev. Alfred Harris, of Hobo. ken, at the Baptist Tabervacie, 141 Chrystie street, this afternoon, at three o'clock. Sets free, Rey. Thomas Armitage, D.D., will preach in the Madi. son avenue Baptist church, corner Thirty-first street, this afternoon, at three o'clock. A lecture by Rev. A.J. Donnelly, pastor of & Mi chael’s church, will bo delivered at the Cooper Lostitute, this (oyday) evening, at half-past seven e’olock. Sub- ject—“ My Tour in Europe.” fi Inthe Bleecker street Universalist church, corner of Downing street, Rev. R. F. Smith, D.D, of All Souls’ church, Canal street, will ocoupy the desk in the morning. At All Saints Protestant Episcopal church, corner ot Henry and Scammel streets, the Rev. 8. J. Corneille, reotor, there will be serviee at half past ten o’ctook ta the morning, At the Church of the Mediator, Lexington avenue, cor- ner of Fast Thirtieth atrect, services will commence at balf-past ten in the morning and at haif-past seven ia the evening. The Rev, Dr. Irving, rector elect, will preach on both occasions, At the Church of the Resurrection, Thirty-fifth street, a fow doors east of Sixth avenue, the reotor, the Rev. K 0. Fiagg, will preach morning and evening. SUNDAY SOHOOL ANNIVERSARIBY, The Sanday School anniversary of the Memorial church, Hammond street, corner of University place, will be held in the church on Monday evening, December 26, at seven o’olock. The aoviversary concert, with readings, recitations, &&., i fe children of the Greene street Methodist La copal Sunday School, will be beld in the church, on Wed- nesday evening at half-past seven o'clock. CATHOLIO BPISCOPAL VISITATION AT BALTIMORE. Un the feast of St. Francis Xavier the Most Rev. Arch. bisnop administered the sicrament of confirmation te sixty four persons in the Church of St. Ignatius, Baltt- Tmaore. Of these several were converts, jading an of. cor in the Union army and others of elevated position in elely The Archbishop algo visited the Church of Bt. Fri Xavier, Baltimore, and confirmed fifty-two per. sons, of whom fourteen were converts. This chu ‘a Universalist sanctuary, was tately parchi and fitted up for tbe colored population. The Jesuit Fa- thers of Loyola College attend it, and all the offices of the church are performed therein with great regularity, (or the devefit of a numerous aod increasing regation, Many of the descendants of from Hayti are returning to the church of their fathers. Moss Rey. Archbishop has also visited the churches of St. Dominic and St. Matthew, Washington city, and that of Holy Trinity, Georgetown, D.C. At St. Dominic’s he confirmed one hundred aud two persons, of whom seven were converts. This church. though it has been recently enlarged, is over crowded, and a new edifice will eoon be erected of more ample proportions by the zealous Do- miuicao Fathers, who have charge of all the Catholics on “the taland,’” At St. Matthew's, after having privately confirmed the lady of one of our principal foreign Minis- ep ececotiene hed at the late mass, tho Aroh- ishop confirmed one hundred and one Of whom several were converts At four o’olock in the a(ternooa eighty seven were confirmed in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Georgetown. In all these parishes the Papal Benediction was given at the close of the services, in virtue of a recent letter addrossed te the Arehbishop po his Holiness Pope Pius IX.—Saitimore American, 2. CLOSING CONVENTS IN POLAND. St, Pererspuna, Nov. 28, 1864. An imperial decree bas been issued civsing certain coa- ‘vonts in Poland, It orders that all Cathotic monasteries and convents having less than eight members, and also those whose Prrticipation in the late insurrection was notorious, or has since been provod, are to be immediately closed. ‘The iamates may enter othor religious establishments, er will be allowed to go abroad at tne public expense. rel either the provincials or generals of their Orders, ‘The confiscated property of the monasteries and oon- vouts will be exclusively devoted to ecclesiastical, oduca- tional and charitable purposes. In pursuance of this decree seventy-one monasteries and tour convents have been closed on account of not Possessing the requisite number of inmates, and thirtye nine other religious houses on account of participation ia the Polish insurrection, A NEW MAHOMEDAN MOSQUE AT CAPR TOWN. A now Mabomedan mosque ia to be erected in Town for one of tho principal lay congregations. expected to prove one of the bandsomest architectural ornaments of the city, and is to cost sevoral thousand Orrra Matingn—The pleasant woather yesterday in- duced a large audience to hear Dom Sebastsan for the last time. The matinee was well and fashionably attended, and the opera was given with its uaual cast and in the wame exeeliont manner as before, Zucchi and Massimi- liani sang well—the latter rather better than usual, the exception of the introduction of too much tremolo im the romanza in the second act, which was not an im- provement, The present season will close with the coming week. Fra Diavolo will be sung for the third time to-morrow (Monday) night. Norma will also be produced this weok for Madame Zucchi’s benefit, ‘Tue Granp Concert under the direction of Dr. William Borge—postponed on account of the weather—will take place at’ the Madison avenue Baptist church next Wednesday evoning, 28th inst, at a quarter before eight e’clock. Mrrtamy.—An election for fleld officers of the One Hua- @red and Second (Lindsey Blues) regiment National Guard, State of New York, took place on Tuesday, De- comber 20, with the following result:—Colonel, Joho N, wil ;, Lieutenant Colonel, Edgar A. Roberts; Major, R, Harry Lovell, Colonel Hatailton, of General ore’ etal, presided. A New Weapenm of War. COMBINATION OF A SABRE AND SIX SHOOTER RE- VOLVER. M. Bleve Guilbert, an ingenious mechanic and practt- cal workman in this city, has perfected an invention of his own in the completion of a very formidable yet elegant weapoa of war, which appears in the shape of @ sabro and six shooter revolver combined, ‘The sabre is of the regulation length of tho United States service, and in the cap of tho steel hilt haw the charging part o ix shooter, which rer in the usaal manner, and discharges the balls throw, ture bored in front of the flat guard coming opposite the thumb when tho sabre is grasped in the hand. This com- bination enables the person so armed to uso the pistol and eword at once, saving the necessity of looking after the pistol and disposing of the sword at the moment iy attacked. M, Guilvert’s invention will in facta boy, to discharge a couple of shots at his adversary, then guard, or cut and thrust, and shoot again as he thinks best, The weapon is not likaly to get out of order, M. Guilbort has epent much Jp_compleiing bie invention, and the ‘Weapon seems really worth the notice of the War Departs ment, through the Ordnance Departmant in Now York, 0 “y. Dr, Joun Lawrence Fo jwet Surgeon of the North Atiantic blockading squadron, died at his home in Rox- bury, Mase., on the 17th inst, o age of 64. Dr. Fox was & vative of Salem, Fle graduated mt Amborst Col. loge in the clas of 1891. In 1887 ho received an appoints ment as Aawistant surgeon in the United Staton Navy. Sinoe that time his services have boon almost constaniiy ju requisition, x etd FROMMER cD Es tg ASE : ;