The New York Herald Newspaper, January 2, 1865, Page 4

4 _ NEW YORK. HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE N, W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. ‘THRMS cash in advance, Money sent by mail will be the risk of the sender. None but bank bills current in New York taken. _, THE DAILY HERALD, Foun cents pereopy. Anoual ‘subscription price $14, THE WEEKLY HERALD, every Saturday, ut Five ae Cop ed eae eae a Mechanics’ 472. Broad. PANCRS, Mrscanetas, &o.— Las 514 Rroadway.—Srocssion ‘Woop's pags, — Lg Proed eer ic!..0WS—ETMIORIAN SONGS, SALLE DIABOLIQUE, Broadway.—Roserr Heruxs. VAN AMBURGH & CO. MAMMOTH MENAGERIE, 089 and 641 Broadway.—Oj tod P.M. ma 1A. Me HIPPOTHEATRON, —Fourtonth street—Egurareax, Gyruwastic ap ACROBATIC TRRLAINSENTS. Hagteqoin Buvmasann. TURKISH HALL, 720 Broadw ay.—Oscanran’s Oxnavrat ‘CONTRRTALNMENT. AMERICAN THEATR: PAwrouumes, BURLESG! VANNUCHI’'S MUSEUM, 600 Broadway.—Movine Wax Pr@uEes—K Rane MOLL KK. 0. 444 Broadway.—Bariers, ilouse Twat Jack Butte. THE SitTUATION. It is.<a'.i Hat the important rebel movement which is to “aston h tle world,” and wiiieh has been so myste- riously alluded to im recent Richmond papers, ig do- igned to cousict of a grand combination in Virginia of noarly atl the rebel miliary: f o#, and # maryh theace | { into the Northern Statos, where they propose to conquer @ penee or die in the atiompt, Fortroxs Monvve adviccs state that Admiral Porter has { vnnewed the bombardincat of Fort Fi it-do not name the day on which the rouewal took pla alithe «riny portion of the expedition to C bad returned to Fortress Monroe on Friday last, ‘The visit to the military lines on the Janes river of the elder Francis P. Blair and his son Montgomery, ex- Postmaster General, has given rise toa rumor in Wash- ington that they have gone for the purpose of meeting representatives of the rebel government, to negotiate for peace, Dufing the siege of Nashville by Hood we were cut off- from news from the important post of Murfreesboro; Ridge mountains. The Union expedition from Plymouth, North Carolina, under Colonel Frankle, has returned to that place. They proceeded as far ag Rainbow Biuff, on the Roanoke river, where, it is said, the rebels were found tu strong foree, under General Hoke. Gumboats which were to have co-operated with Colonel Frankie were to @ great extent prevented from fulfilling their allotted part of the expedition by the torpedoes in the Roanoke, One of these concealed rebel missiles was recently exploded under the steamer General Berry, in Albemarle Sound, but did her no damage. The shock caused by the explosion of the powder boat Louisiana, in front of Fort Fisher; was felt at Newbern, N.C., nearly one hundred miles off. The North Carolina State works at Masonboro were destroyed by fire on the 29th ult. From Cairo we learn that General Canby has issued an order warning Mississippi river steamboat captains to be om their guard against guerilias, who are known to have organizations perfected for the purpose of shortly re- suming their operations, which for some time past have ‘Deen considerably suspended, against vessels on that stream. There is nothing later to notice of the operations of the armies under Genoral’ Sherman, in Georgia, and General Thomas, in Tennessce and Alabama We publish this morning a list of the names of forty- seven Union army officers who lately made their escape. from the rebel prison at Columbie, South Carolina, and arrived at Fortress Monroe, on board the steamship Asego, from Port Royal. The oxtracta from rebel newspapers which we publish this morning will be found most interesting, includ- img, among other matters, an account of the movements of North Carolina and Texas Unionists for the purpose of restoring their States to thelr proper positions in the Union ; the accusation im the rebel Congress against Jeff. Davis’ War Secretary of encouraging desertions from the rebel army, and particulars of a Union raid from Memphis and of the capture and destruction by Stoneman and Burbridge of the Virginia salt works. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. Our special corréspondence from Berlin, Vienna and St. Petersburg, with the extracts from our European files, published in tho Hxna.p to-day, contain very in- teresting and important details of the latest foreign’ news. It will be seen that Austria and Prussia find it very | dificult to balance by. diplomacy either their own in- terests or tye new views of the other great Powers, par- ticularly, of Russia, as affected or altered by tho late war against Denmark and the annexation of the Duchies to | Germany. A war between the leading members of the German Confederation, which will probably involve the other countries of Europe, is likely to result from the com plication, ‘The time-honored and Joyous New York custom of mak- ing New Yearealls will no doubt be entored into\to-day tu this city and the snrrounding citfes'and towns with the usual spirit and universality, All business, exeept such as is indispensable, will of course be suspended, and the uy Will be » gonoral Lgtiday. ‘There is every prospect of the we: roving indst propillons, the sky being pet fectly clear, the walking, tiougl somowbat slippery, sold, and the sir just suflicieatly crisp to render locomo- fall of snow reumined-on the vighing in unfrequented urbe, The weather was and cool, There was a large tam. Purk, but there was no skating, the ¢ in good order, To-day, however, if the re continues culd, it is expected that the eksters will have all the facilities for enjoying themselyea, In that case of course thousands of them will embrace the ‘opportunity, Our new Governor, Mr, Reuben E. Fenton, will ve in- angurated in the State Capito! at Albany at noon to-day. ‘The Legislature for 1865 will assemble to-morrow, and continue in session for one hundred days, and perhaps longer. If the Assembly should succeed in effecting an immediate organization, Governor Fenton’s Mesinge may be to-morrow laid before the two houses. We publish this morning » synoptical compilation of where the rebels under Forrest and Bate have been besieging Gencral Rousseau. This morning we give an interesting lettor from our correspondent with General Rousseau’s colamn at Fortress Rosecrans, in which he desoribes the more Important operations of the siege. On December 4 General Milroy relieved the besieged garrison at Overall’s creek, and on the 7th, with two small bri- wader, attacked Bate’s entire rebel division, and, after a sharply contested engagement of nearly an hour's dura- tion, carried Lis breastworks and captured two pieces of his artillery and nearly two hundred prisoners. At tho same time General Rousseau, at the head of two hundred cavalry, surprised and routed Buford's division of For- ccat’s cavalry, drivmg them from the town of Murfrees- ‘Doro and compelling the rebels to raise the siege. The principal part of the fighting was on the old battle field ‘of Stone river. The new rebel pirate Sea King, which lef an English port/some time ago, where It was undorstood that «he was to be considered the successor of the sunken Aiabama, ‘and was to bo commanded by Captain Semmes, is now, under the name of the Shenandoah, actively at work in destroying American shipping on the Atlantic. We have the account of the capture by herof the ship Kate Prince; the barks Elena and E. G. Godfrey, and the brig Susan and. schooner Charter Oak, of San Francisco, Tho facts ere furnished us by Captain Manson, of the brig Susan, which’ was taken and sunk by the Shenandoah on the 4th of November, in north latitude 4 30, west longitude 26.40; "All the other vessels named were also destroyed by the pirate, ‘after they had been rifled of such valuables as could be conveniently carried, with the exception of the ship Kate Prince, which was bonded, and conveyed some of the captared officers and men to Bahia, Brazil, whonce they arrived here yesterday. The Shenandoah is now commanded by a Marylander named Wardell, who rays ho was educated at the Annapolis Naval Academy, and formerly commanded the United States sloop-of-war Saratoga, The Shenandoah, or Sea King, was builtat Ginsgow, Scotland, in 1863, and is 6 fuil ship rigged steamer, capable of running eleven knots an hour. She carries four sixty-clght-pounder smooth bore guns, two thirty.two-pounder rifles and two twelve-pounder emooth bores. ‘Tho steamship Cabawba, which arrived hero yesterday from New Orleans and Key Weat, brought us further important news regarding the progress of the expedi- tlon under General Gordon Granger, which left East Ponsacola, Florida, on the 15th ult, On the 19th ‘of December Gencral Granger was ot Franklin ereck, Jackson county, Mississippi, only thirty miles from Mobile, having met with but little opposition. The rebels In Mobile are busy day and night in endeavors to blockade the water front of that city, eloking large ecows filled with ofd tron and bricks, The rebel ram Bionville, from Selma," was expected to come down the Alabama river to Mobile shortly. Thore was heavy artitfery firing In tho vicinity of Fort Tell, in front of the Wiath corps, Army of the Potomac, on Thureday and Friday last, but ft appears not to have been productive of any Important resulta, Beyond this thre ts little in the way of military operations from the James river armies to notice, There ie great suffering in Richmond for want of the necessaries of life, and de- sortions to the Union lines are increasing in numbers, Our derpatohes from the headquarters of General Sheri- dan’s army furnish confirmation of the report that the cebel General Early hae withdrawn the main portion of his forces far up the Shenaudoah valley. He has fallen tack with his infantry to Waynesboro, on tho South | from this single source during one year; and | tiver, Mis cavalry, however, under Rosser and Lomax, various interesting events and affairs of the past year, including statements of accidents on railroads and steam- ‘oats, losses by fire, criminal records of this city, the commerce of the port and various other matters of im- portance to the general public as well as statisticians. A man named Caspar H. Heiss was yesterday locked up on the charge of having shot, and supposed mortully ‘wonded, Christian Schliemann, early yesterday fore- noon, In a Forty-third street lager beer saloon. Mr. Richard Brown, of No, 8 Birmingham street, wos shot between three and four o’clock yesterday morning, while standing in front of his residence. It is thought that he cannot recover from the effects of the wound. Who fired the shot was not certainly ascertained; but four men were arrested in a house opposite to Mr. Brown's residence on suspicion. William Bayles, a man aged seventy-five years, was on Saturday committed to the Tombs charged with having obtained goods on false pretences from Mr. Jackson M. Boerum, a South street merchant. Bayles gave in pay- ment for the property a check on the American Ex- change Bank for three hundred dollars, in which, it is alleged, he had no money. On the discovery of this fact search was made for him, and it was found he had gone to New Haven, Conn. Officers immedsately left for that place, where they arrested Bayles and recovered the goods. During a dispute of Saturday night between two colored men named Samuel Thomas and James Weldon, in a drinking saloon tp Grand street, near Wooster, the former inflicted severe gtshen on the thront and left arm of tho latter, Itis thought that the injuries will prove mortal, Thomes was arreated and looked up, Two natives of Switzerland, named Catharine Sauls- man and-Joseph Millor, were yesterday hold for, exami- natign at the Tombe Police Covrt, charged with being regular shoplifters, It is ull ged that they had stolen @ large noraber of cots from clothing establishments in Fulton and Greenwich streeta, and soveral pairs of boots and shoes, When arrested they had in their posession over five hundred dollars in money and a supply of poultry and confectionery, which are supposed to have been alo stolen. ‘The remains of a man, supposed to have been Mr. Bowles, late a partner in the Hoffman House, Broadway, were found in the North river, at the foot of Thirty- pinth street, on last Saturday afternoon, During an altercation in a liquor raloon on the corner of Second avenue and Twonty-seventh street, about Fix o'clock last evening, William J. Merrick was so severely shot in the back by James McClarnon that ft is thought he cannot recover from the effects of the wound, The latter was arrested and locked up. A fire, supposed to have been the work of an incen- diary, broke out yesterday afvernoon in the terra cotta drain pipe manufactory, No, 145 East Forty-firet street, doing damage to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars, It te said that Mayor Wood, of Brooklyn, will veto the ordinance passed by the Common Cowneil a short time ago authorizing the railroad compantea im that city to raise their fare from five to seven conta, By our Key West (Fla.) despatches we learn that James Kelly, the seaman charged with the murder of Mr, John- gon, second mate of the bark Annie M. Gray—an account of which affair appeared in tho Hanato a fow days ago— has been committed for trial at the May term of the United States DistiHtet Court at that place, The funeral of the late Mr. Dayton, Minister to Franco, will take place from the New Jersey State Capitol, in Trenton, at eleven o'clock on Thursday noxt, The notorious Missouri guerilla Hunter was recently arrested at Salt Lake City, Utah. He was on his way to California, and had in Lis poesession two hundred thou- fand dollars in Troasury notes, stolen from a bank In Bloomington, Mo., over a year ago. He will probably be hung. aed Emronarion.—During the past year immigrn- tion revived, and over one hundred thousand foreigners arrived here to become American citizens. Woe estimate that each one of these emigtants is worth a thousand dollars to the country, and that each brings with him one hundred dollars in gold. It is easy to calculate how splendidly the country has been enriched our strength is Europe's weakness. NEW YORK . are.oporating further down, om both sides of the Blue sible fer the Failure? Press. ‘There arises from the smoke ‘and din of the | The Pythoness of the rebellion bas had her terrific bombardment of Fort Fieher of Christ- | home in Richmoud, and ber voice Las been the mas Eve ead Christmas Day—the most terrific | Richmond prevs. Aiid the prophecies and suy~ of which we have any record—a question as to | ings which Lave emanated from that soures who is responsible for the failure that resulted. | bave been just about as truthful as those whick General Butler has written a letter to Admiral | emanated from Delphos. The newspapers of Porter, in which he alleges that the bombard- | Richmond have been the chief support ef the ment was non-effective, and that the works, | rebel cause. Those of Charleston, Savannah remaining substantially intact, were too strong | aod Mobile bave Deen acarcely Leard to break to carry,by direct assault, Admiral Porter re- | the silongs-end gloom that surrounded them ; plies by assuming the truthfulness of certain | but in Richmond they have been cuoning, ua- statements made by the General in his letter, scrupulous and deflunt. We admit they havea that a few soldiers entered the works, certain kind of ability, characteristic of their & fing, shot an orderly, rifled his body of de- eelf-admiration and Soutiera pretension ; but spatches and rode his horse away, and all with- pagent thet ons Ge ee Lae ae out encountering resistance, and argues | they were unsble to grapp! un.m- therefrom that Prt was substantially | peachable merit of the institutions of the Union, silenced, and that where four men could safely | honestly to defend their conduct or to compre- go and accomplish so much as mapy men as hend the logic of events, The Richmond editors, | could be obtained might have gone. In plain | Inspired by their ambitious and unscrupulous terms, the Admiral’s argument is that no sssqult’| leaders, by & long course of self-adulation, was necessary. The naval bombardment had | *a4@ come to the conclusion that they were driven the rebel garrison to the shelter of the | ## much superior to Northern mon as they were bombproofs with which the fort abounded, and | ¢ their own negroes; that labor was the true all that remained for the army to do was to | badge of inferiority and servitude, and all they ‘The Wilmington Affaiz—Whe is Respon-| The Character of the Richmond | London iss larger city than New York it has | was.eo entirely without, General Lee, in these secure the prisoners, who were already caged. It seems to.us that the Admiral has altogether the best of the question. _ One fact is conspicuous in’ the controyersy that has erisen out of this affair—the navy had completely silenced the guns of the fort. This really the case, the part assigned t the navy was fally accomplished. Certainly it was not to be expected that great frigates, monitors and gunboats could mske an assault ‘upon.a land fortifeation, occupy and possess it, That is the work of an army. That ia the por- tion of the work attempted at Fort Fisher which General Butler undertook to do. The naval fieet had only to silence the guns, and thus open the way for the assault, That work was fully accomplished. Therefore the navy cannot be held responsible for the failure. The army did not make the assault when the guns were silenced, notwith- -standing a sufficient force was upon the beac! Therefore the army failed of accomplishing its part. Why it failed is another matter, in rela- tion to which more light would be very accept- able. We shall probably have it when General Butler makes his report. If this reasoning be correct, it certainly is irrelevant to drag other matters into: the ques- tion at issue. For instance, it has no relevancy \| to the main question whether’ Admiral Porter has madé two hundred thousshd dollars out of the Wilmington blockade, or whether he has made nothing. If he has made the, ainount which some claim he has made, has;boen very fortunate, and we congratu- late him on his good success.‘ The Admiral’s share of prize money is one-twentieth of one- half of the net proceeds of all prizes cap- tured. ‘Pwo hundred thousand dollars at this rate would represent eight millions of dollars as the pet value of prizes captured under bis administration, Such a vast amount certainly speaks loudly in praise of the stringency of the blockade which Admiral Porter has established off the harbor. of Wilmington, He bas had command of that squadron about three months. It would require the capture of one blockade runner daily during all this time t# make up that sum. We repeat, if his share of the prize money amount to the sum stated, the blockade of Wilmington is of such a degree of effective- ness as has never before been attained in the blockade of any port, and eluding it must be a very losing enterprise to the parties engaged. Not even the British government, much less the British mercantile community or the rebel leaders, or both combined, can afford to carry on business in the face of such tremendous lossea, But all this story of the fabulous sums made march in and take possession of the work and had to do was to proclaim their own superiority and their aristocratic priaciples, and the North would not only be overawed, but conquered. In order to inspire the mon ef thelr armies with these notions, systematic abuse and de- preciation ef the North were a faverite means. “Mudstils,” “greasy mechaales,” “slaves of ia admitted on. ail hands, Now. #f such was | %¢ dollar,” “doughfnees,”. “the, scum of Europe” and “cowards”. were epithets io constant use. Robert Toombs was to call the roll of his slaves at the foot of the monument on Bunker Hill; bis eavalry were to water their herses in the Delaware river, and New York, Boston and Paila- elphia were to be the easy booty of his invin- olbles. The Richmond press made this kind of predictions with the boldest assurances. ‘They had leng ruled the North from Washington, they now inteaded to do so from Richmond. This was the frst tone of the press of that city. But when the indignant and outraged North began to bestiritself, and accepted the gauntlet h, | thus impudently and wantonly thrown down; when taught by a few early reverses that they could not fight this battle in silk gloves; when the tide of war began to turn, and the enemy was gradually driven back from the Poto- mac, from Norfolk, from, the Oblo, the rivers of Tennessee and Kentucky, and from the Mississippi and Missouri, the Richmond press had to assumea new tone. Tho loss of all these lines was nothing, every defeat was but the result of defensive: strategy, every forward movemext of our armies was but a walk into a trap, every misfortune of their he | O79 was exactly what they desired and ‘a , blessing in disguise, In the midatiof the most apparent discomfitures they assumed thet all was well; that thcir final success was beyond all doubt, and Europe was called on to beliove them, and adjured at once to change neutrality" ihto recognition. While every year thousands of miles equare were wrested from them, they declared theiy territory was intact, and homo- geneous; when they had in their whoie'coniede- acy scarce a single State government which was carrying en its functions in a legal or orderly manner—thelr local preases defunct, their courts dead, thoir schools and churches deserted, their commerce destroyed and their money worthless—the Riehmend press con- tinued to boast of the stability and progress of their States, of the certainty and success ef their institutions, the rapid growth of their industries, the calmness and happiness of their people. And even of the last’ great and trium- phant march of Sherman, which our worst evemies abroad bave declared—if successful— will surpass the march of Xenopbon from the battle field of Cunaxa, or the most famous advances of the First Napoleon, they have declared not their apprehension but centempt. The Richmond press, always rubbing up by naval officers by leaving # rebel port open | their classlos and ready to burl ancient hig- is mere bogh. It is ungenerous toan arm-of| tory at the head ef modern dissentients, the service, which, in fits field of operations, | ebose to consider this movement as a disgrace- and considering the means the admimistration | ful fetreat from Hood. On his flank and rear has placed at its disposal, and making allow- | the gallant rebels were to ‘goad him to ance for the somnolency of its patriarchal head, | frenzy; and, like the. men of Roderick Dtu, has done as much towards the subjugation of the | Southern beroes were to start up from every rebellion as has the army. It is ungenerous, | covert to assail bie astonished columns. Bragg after the arduous campaigns and glorious | was to conquer him here, Hardee was to erush achievements of Admiral Porter in opening up | him there, and he was to meet the fate of the Mississippi river, and particularly on the | “Macedonia’s madman and the Swede.” This heel of his terrible bombardment of Fort Fisher, | was the speech of the Richmond. press, de. in which the power of the navy was exhausted | signed to keep Georgia and North Carolina ia under his Jeadership and direction nd ita part | place, to impart new hope to the rebel press accomplished, to insinuate: sordid motives to | of New York, to encourage the London Time him as the cause of the lack of success. We and the Indet, and to give Slidell and Mason believe such motives influence no officer of | one more chance of button holing the Frengh, either arm of the service less than they do Ad- | Eimperor. But Sherman haa entirely succeeded, miral Porter; and we believe, moreover, that no | Savanuah itself has fallen, aud the tactics of the one more sincerely regrets ‘that Wilmington is | great‘Hardee were a hasty’ flight before dur not to-day in our possession than he. This is | fleet shéuld get up theriver to make his escape evident from the fact that he was the first’ to | impossible. e commence the attack and the last to leave -it, The Richmond press, with its usual and that he only retired from the work when all | effrontery, will proclaim this movement of co-operation had been withdrawn from him, | their hero ‘a splendid triumph, like the and he had apparéntly exhansted his ingenulty | retreat of Moresu through the Holle Pass of in the'attempt to protract the effort to wrest | the Black Forrest, and that the loss of Savan- the position from the enemy. nab is no Joss at all. On the contrary, by this peaches splendid strategy, the confederacy will be Ratnoap axp Sreampoat Acoments.—There | saved and its independence assuredly estab- were moro people killed and wounded by rail- | lished. Whea Wilmington falle—as, sooner or road accidents last year than in any preceding | Jater, fall it must—we shall have the same year shace 1854. One hundred and forty acci-| story. So with “regard to Charleston; and dents occurred; four hundred’ and four lives | @nally, when Richmond (with Jefferson Davis were lost, and one thousand eight hundred and and the remaining conspirators, enclosed, sur- forty-six persons were wounded. The trans- | rounded and captured by Grant and Sherman) portation of troops does not account for this | shall cease to be o rebel capital, some increase; for the railroads transported quite as fugitive editor from Richmond, in some unfre- many soldiers in 1868, and yet the number of | quented marsh er rice feld, will, if possible, accidents and the number of killed and wounded | get out an extra, on the tail of dis last shirt, were nearly double those of that year, The | proclaiming to the world, by all that is sacred, steamboat accidents in 1864 were less frequent | the confederacy survives and has achieved its and fatal. They did not exceed the average for | independence. the last ten years; but were more numerous then jn 1863, Our tables in another column | 26smesr Fua—During the past your the have been carefully compiled, and are very in- enormous sum of twenty-eight millions five hun- teresting. dred and twenty-two thousand dollars was lost by fires in the loyal States, without counting ‘Tur. Comtna Drart.—By the credits for naval | losses under twenty thousand or losses by the enlistments and for volunteers the quote of | war, as at Chambersburg. This amount ex- New York city under the coming draft has | ceeds the losses for any previous year within been nearly filled, and only four thousand four | the Inst decade, We publish o very full and hundred and thirty-three recruits are needed to fomplete it. The Supervieors offer these recruits the magnificent bounty of one thou- sand dollars each, and an ordinance providing for this additional expense has already been passed and signed by tho Mayor. New York city gives Farragut fifty thousand dollars, and other military and naval heroes as much more, and can yet afford to pay four milliond for exemption from a new conscription, This shows the wealth of the metropolis and the public spirit of her citizen« complete table in another column, giving the date, place and damage of each fire. Take the twenty-eight millions five hundred thousand dollars in our table and add to that ton mil- lions of dollars for the minor losses and we have s grand total of nearly forty millions of @ollars worth of property consumed by fire in a single year. This heavy loss is owing to the rash, off-hand style in which Americans con- duct their business and the carelessness with which they store their goods. In Europe such conflagrations are almost unknown, Although family, that stamina which her weaker brother two lotters, has one idea—the State of Virginia. Peg E EEE Hd £ i ‘constitution was the voice of the majority, but the factious few despised: that voice. State rights has been the dogma of the minority ever since, as it was then—the pretext of noisy politicians, who have used it only for their per- sonal purposes. Where do we find this dogma most conspicuously in our-history? In the at- ‘tempts of Thomas Jofferson to rally a, party | * against the dominant one’of the nation, he em- bodied the theory of State rights in his Ken- tacky resolutions. It ‘was ‘used there as a party cry—the cry ofan ‘opposition that was factions and. ‘not real, and the people so de- ‘cided, for ‘no éuccess followed that bid for popular favor. The people were against it, and Jefferson was elected to the Presidency on @ totally different issue, State rights’ next appear in the Hartford Convention, another sectional assault against the government; another opposition simply and’ solely factious. State rights went’ from Conneoticut to South Carolina, ata C2T:Sun, at the head of another faction, raised the same Cry, That is the history of the dogma of State rights since the adoption of the constitution. Every where it is the cry of the factions against the people. In every in- stance itisthe appeal of politicians tothe nar row and’ miserable prejiidices of the people— to the prejudices of neighborhood and. section; and the politicians appeal to these miserable prejndices'to excite’ the people ‘against their better fdeas, and against the noblest and greatest of all human ideas, the idea of country. General Lee is one more man of distingnished position who commits his:whole life to this de- Jusion. .Had there heen forty shorthand re- porters present when Dogberry uttered’ his cele- brated -wish,-he could not. have been more. effectually “written «down anj ass” than General Lee has thus, by his own pen, been written “down a*mah*of narrow and méan ‘mind. “The ides of coantry is a great and noble one, and goes hand in hand with intellectual development end greatness. It does not exist at all among the mative Aus tralians, Afticans or New Zealanders. The further it is possible to go to the other extrem- ity the higher you will rise in the scale.of pop lar development and culture, and the more dis- tifietly marked do you find this idea. ‘France is 8 sufficiéitt instance. those two ex- tremes the idea is developed with all shades of difference, and of course least in, the narrowest minds. GeneraliLee declares that he possesses | , it to a limited extent, He acknowledges “de- ‘vation'to. the Union; the “fecling’ of loyalty and duty ag.an, American n;” but he owns that, though he possesses these: ideas, they are ‘not strong enough in hig mind to prevent him from. fighting that Union that he. is “devoted”, to, and that, country towards’ which he has'a “fooling of loyalty and duty.” Is this a very great man? Nay, more, he will fight ogainst that country although he “recognizes no for the war in which he. fights. He will do all this rather than take part against “his relatives, his children and his home.” How honestly may any noble exile who has aban- doned home, kindred and fuiilly for » good cause, curl his lip in scorn at the infinite little- ness of the man who gives his own measure in words like these. Revorvrtonary Parrrors.—Out of the twelve Revolutionary patriots living on the Ist of Jan- uary, 1863, but five survive to welcome this New Year. Lemuel Cook resides at Clarendon, N. Y., and does not know his age; Samuel Downing resides at Edinburg, Saratoga county, N. Y., and is ninety-eight years old; William Hutchins. resides at Penobscot, Me., and is one hundred years old; Alexander Maroney resides at Yates, Orleans county, N. Y., and is ninety~ four years old; James Barham lives in Missouri, and is one hundred years of age. So of these five veterans New York has three. Doubtless in another year or two all of them will have departed; but a new generation of patriots, the veterans of this war, will take their places in the hearts of their countrymen. Tan Question or Restraiwt in Cases or IxsanrryIn another column we give two communications enggested by the Brooklyn lunacy case. Our correspondent seoms to sympathize with Mise Underhill, and to feel deeply on the subject of the restraint imposed upon the insane. He suggests alterations in the law, and he snggests an indifferent remedy against the abuse of restraint. Insanity is, above all, the troublesome point in medical jurisprudence, and the questicn of ro straint in cases of alleged or real insarity is one | ton of theappa.’ a alaeaieemeiin aurea the most de Vieate that soolety has to deal with. ‘no a given pers’ sane. Hence plaintiff and defendant can give in the wame case the most cogent arguments ef her way. ‘The fact that a ‘| person can write poe try, and even poetry of the very highest order, is no cvidcnée that the person is what ia called “sane,” for the writing ‘cise every intel tion are be sent-to an Asylum. Some one mast draw the line, and in view ef the impossibility of the aay general rule by which that line siAM be drawn, the law provides that''t shall be drawm anew, and by:competent persons, for eech par ticular case. That is'a good law. cal examination of two. physicians the best determination of the question, in any given case that canbe had.’ Bat ous correspondent says that the triemds:ean bribe the The same may be gaid on ald points and against all laws. Scoundrels cam be bribed to, murder and judges-to.charge in their favor, and Governors to: pardon them at the last, if necessary. The physician, if there is collusion in such a case, is a conspirator against the person’s liberty, and is liable in @ civil suit, Our correspondent suggests that the magistrate, before he. issues the warrant, shall make the same examination’ that the p! siclans have already made. We are not pre pared to believe that many of our magistrates are qualified to make such an examination, os that:they are less likely to be bribed than the physicians are. Commenon or New Yors.—During’ the year 1864 four thousand eight hundred and nine vee sols arrived at the port of New York.ffom for ign: ports—a decrease ‘of. two hundred and ‘seventy-three from 1868, This decrease,is very slight when the natural, effects of the war are sels carried the American fing. One’ and ninety-elght thousand’ three’ biindred and forty-two passengers arrived, the most of them emigrants, who have settled in this country. The Peruvian Outward Bous Portuanp, Jam, 1) 1868 ‘Tho Peruvian sailed last night, at halfyast Cleves, for Custom House Robbery at Philadelphia. Paaverurs, Jen. 1, 1868 It was reported on’ Friday night that er] stolen from the vault of the Custom House. of the Custom House were missing om Saturday morning. A hole, was broken in the side of the vault, when the seD- . L New Yrin's Cerusxation Yestanvat—Tiough Me rogular , celebration, of New Year occliry td-day, stilt many people took advantage of the fino. weather yester- Gay to have a jolly time generally: ‘The streets wee crowded with merry assemblages of and joyful shonts resounded through the air. Thehard of Get urday’ night congealed the almost, used up amow,'and left a fine slippery surface on the streets forsieighing, Lovers of sleighing fatled not to avail themselves of the oppem tanity. The jingling of bells. to ‘a ay anor neo id io the Sper aie play was quite ‘extensive, the for the being greater. ‘universal core the old saying that “‘a bird two the bush,” preferred to go around among. ‘ase meet euteiches ie. ‘The Park was ded with there skating. Should the cold how. srer, tho prospects are that the ice Will be in a fine eondl- ton ‘to-day. Gagxp Sacnnp Concent.—A grend musical vespem ‘and sacred concert will take place at St Columbier'p (Roman Catholic) church, in Twenty-Afth street, betweem Eighth and Ninth avenues, on next Sunday evening, um Mr. Brookes, at his Asrémbly Rooms in Broome street, by the gentlemen of his claaver, ob Wednelitay evening. ‘Twenty-seventh street and Second avenue, in which one of the partis was injured eo badly that his life <a ‘The recent decease of Augustus Purdy, the son of | pervisor Purdy, bas marred the New Year's his faxaily and his friends, and of his‘arsoolates in the Finance Departmont, Mr, Purdy was ® most sealous and efficient public officer and a gentieman of the raonta! genial charactor and courteous manners, Hoe was furty~ two years of age, and was head of the Bureau of Arrearat when he died. ‘This burenu was organized ty him, em- a ite Sits the onseru of Ral rte, Ms Foputation of baving the post ow ‘f ‘Arrears, in that of Deputy Rec eat ot Atnny others which he ber filled in Tupted succession, the beet clerical a'slilty of any the city departments have produced, cociaashanctiliditindalalae ‘Toe Tratias Ovena.—The alo Of tickets and roats tho Ttalian Opera Buffa will cow-nonce to morrow Boor & Schirmer’s musie store. 71 Broadway. ities, o ’