Northern news.
We make some further extracts of interest from our latest Northern papers:
Mr. J. Wesley Greene, an arrant impostor, whose imposition this paper noticed a few days ago, has been operating at the
North, as the following extracts from the Chicago
Times will show.
We give them in full, as extracted from that paper:
The agent of the
Associated Press in this city having telegraphed eastward a synopsis of the negative of
Mr. J. Wesley Greene contained in the
Times of Wednesday morning, the Administration at
Washington responded thereto as follows:
‘
"
Washington, Dec. 10--J
Wesley Greene, who furnished the Chicago
Times some reported peace propositions from
Jeff. Davis to
President Lincoln, in an impostor.
He came to
Washington to see
President Lincoln.
who ascertained that there was no ground for his nonsensical statements, "
’
This was plain, blunt, and But as if not satisfied with this disposition of the matter, an hour or two later the Administration telegraphed to the country as follows:
‘
"
Washington, Dec. 10.--On enquiry, it is ascertained that a man calling himself
J. Wesley Greens, and professing to reside at
Pittsburg, Pa. called on the
President some time in November, and stated to him that he had two interviews with
Jeff. Davis at
Richmond, in the last of October and also related certain statements which he said
Davis had made to him upon the occasion.
The President however, became satisfied that
Greene had not seen
Davis at all, and that the entire story was a very shallow attempt at deception.
Jeff. Davis can redeem
Green's character if he will by verifying his statement."
’
This is a very decided letting down from the first dispatch.
And only two or three days earlier the Administration authorized the statement to be telegraphed to the country that no communication embodying peace propositions has been made to them
in any way. Let us exercise patience, and trust that we shall yet extort the truth in this business even from the Administration.
We now desire to put a few specific questions to the Administration.
- 1.
Do the Administration deny that the President received a letter from Mr. J. Wesley Greene, date Pittsburg Pa., November 10th, 1862 containing certain information concerning an alleged visit of Mr. Greene to Richmond?
- 2. Do the Administration deny that on the 15th of November the Secretary of War sent a tole graphic dispatch to Mr. J. Wesley Greene, at Pittsburg, requesting him to come immediately to Washington, and that at the same time the war Department provided transportation for Mr. Greene from Pittsburg to Washington?
- 3. Do the Administration deny that, in response to the dispatch of the Secretary of War, Mr. J. Wesley Greens reached Washington on Tuesday morning, November 18 and reported himself to life Secretary of War?
- 4.
Do the Administration deny that on this same Tuesday, November it, Mr. J. Wesley Greene had an interview first with the President, and subsequently with the President and Cabinet, and that the latter interview lasted from about half-past 5 o'clock in the afternoon until about 11 o'clock at night?
- 5. Do the Administration deny that they detained Mr. J. Wesley Greene in Washington until the next Saturday evening, November 22, and that mean while be did have the interviews with the President, the President and Cabinet, and the Secretary of War, as detailed in his published statement?
- 6. Do the Administration deny that before Mr. J. Wesley Greene was finally dismissed by the Secretary of War, one hundred dollars were paid to him, and transportation to Pittsburg furnished to him, by order of the Secretary!
We desire that the Administration shall answer these several questions as specifically as we have asked them, and then we desire that they shall answer the following specific questions:
- 1.
At what stage of Mr. J. Wesley Greene's stay in Washington did the Administration ascertain that he was "an impostor," and at what stage did the President ascertain that "there was no ground for his statements, and at what stage did the President "become satisfied that Greens had not been Davis at all, and that the whole story was a very shallow attempt at deception?"
- 2.
And why, after the President had ascertained and become satisfied of these things did the Secretary of War direct that one hundred dollars should be paid to Mr. Greene, and that transportation should be furnished to him to Pittsburg?
Was this payment and this transportation reward to "an impostor?"
One other question we desire to ask the Administration:
Why, if they regarded
Mr. Greene "an impostor" and his statements "nonsensical," have they telegraphed over the country to ascertain his whereabouts since he left
Washington?.
The manner in which the Administration at tempt to dispose of
Mr. Greene will not do. Then cannot whistle him down in that way. He is too well fortified to sit quietly down under that sort of treatment.
We do not undertake to decide as to the motives of
Mr. Jefferson Davis in procuring
Mr. Greene to go to
Washington.
They may have been sincere and they may have been insincere.
Mr. Greene believes them to have been sincere.
Whatever they were, we have no more doubt than we have of our own existence that
Mr Greene came from
Mr. Davis at
Richmond to
President Lincoln at
Washington, and we have no more doubt than we have of our own existence that the Administration at
Washington believe that he thus cames.
We reserve further comment on the extraordinary attitude of the administration and mean while perhaps the public will hear from
Mr. Greene again in our next issue.
The
Wheeling (Va.) Press gives the following samples of despotism in that overrun section of the
State:
On
Saturday James Herriott, of this city, who was some time ago admitted to ball upon an indictment for treason, in the
U. S. Court, having recently been using treasonable language in discouragement of enlistments was arrested by Deputy
Marshal Irwin, and lodged in the Athen where we trust he will remain until tried.
Miss Eliza Hughes, M. D. sister of the well known
Dr. Alfred Hughes, now an inmate of Camp chase, was arrested and lodged in the Athen on Saturday, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, by order of
Provost Marshal Darr, Subsequently
Miss Hughes, having complained of being unwell, sent for
Major Darr, and agreed to take the oath, which secured her release.
Frank Vennum, a river man of this city, was also arrested, but look the oath.
Likewise
Miss Nancy Dqun.
Acknowledgment of Confederate Bravery.
A correspondent of a Northern paper, writing from
Corinth concerning the late battle, pays the following compliment to our troops engaged in that contest:
‘
It is the current testimony of all who witnessed it that the charge made by the rebel column on our breastworks on Saturday has no persist in this war for intrepid, obstinate courage, and none to excel it in history.
I have concerned with many officers, of all grades, who express this opinion, and make no attempt to conceal their admiration of the men and the discipline that could face the murderous leaden form of our forces and batteries; sweep across the field with closed ranks, despite the yawning gaps made by every discharge of our guns, and actually mount our works and plant their banners there in the agonies of the death struggle.
The 2d Texas infantry, under
Col. Rogers, led the charge, and the
Colonel himself fell on our breast- works with the color of his regiment in his hand, A piece of paper was found under his clothing, giving his name, age, rank, command and the address of After the battle but four of his entire regiment were left alive, and three of these were wounded, and all taken prisoners.
’
The crisis in the Abolition Cabinet — the radicals responsible for the mismanagement of the War.
The papers of the
North have commenced a "satisfactory settlement" of the recent Cabinet difficulties; but the following editorials, from the New York
Herald, furnish evidence that the spirit of discontent is by no means crushed.
The extracts will repay perusal:
‘
What influences, instrumentalities, and agents, are really responsible for the mismanagement of this war!
The radical majority of the two houses of Congress, and especially of the Senate and their collaborators and instruments in the
Cabinet Having the power, in having the control of Congress, to raise money, fleets, and armies, or to deny them, this radical faction has compelled the
President, in many things, to yield to their demands against his own ingenious and conservative views, and in order to secure the wave and means to carry on the war. The abolition eradicate, then, and their managing agents in the
Cabinet and War Office, are surpassable, in their disorganizing schemes and intrigues, for all the felling, and disasters of the war, including a derangement of our financial affairs and a of dollars a day to the national debt.
Nor have we any doubt that
Mr. Secretary Chase has been the prime mover in all these radical schemes, and an active no worker with his confederates of the Senate against
Mr. Seward.
Upon its face the volunteered resignation of the
Secretary of the Treasury is very plausible; but it was, we suspect, only an adroit device to escape the consequences threatened him under cover of the smoke around him.
The question, then, still recurs, is there any hops for a vigorous, harmonious, and successful prosecution of this war under the controlling influences to which we may justly charge all our past disasters?
Common sense will answer no Nor will the present unsatisfactory condition of things be substantially improved with any partial reconstruction of the
Cabinet upon the impossible basis of conciliating the conservatives while satisfying.
the certificates.
The one division of the Republican party or the other must be absolutely as the guiding party of the Administration radical wing may readily be dispensed it represents only a small popular of the loyal States, while the conserve supported by a substantial majority of the --Lot
President Lincoln assume the responsibility to side with the public sentiment of the country, and he will be strong enough to command even from this radical Congress all needful supplies for the war.
’
"the botching up temporary."
In another editorial, the
Herald says:
‘
Nobody believes that the botching up of the disruption in the
Cabinet is more than temporary.
It is like the reliving of the doomed sick man before his final dissolution.
Public opinion is stronger than the
Cabinet and the
Cabinet will soon have to go the way of all flesh.
The crisis, therefore, still continues, and can only be sieged by the final breaking up of the
Cabinet; for it has lost the confidence of the country, and saltpetre cannot save it. The financial consideration involved in the appointment of the successors of the present imbeciles are of the gravest character, and ought to have a decided influence on the
President's choice.
The radicals intend to return the charge against
Mr. Seward as soon as the present excitement subsides; but whether it will subside remains to be seen.
If they succeed in forcing him out of the
Cabinet, and causing other vacancies in order to have them filled up by such men as
Sumner,
Wade, and
Fessenden, the war for the
Union would be soon brought to a dead halt for want of the means to carry it on. The bankers and the moneyed interest in the large cities., who are practical men of business have no confidence in the radical faction, and will not lend money to be placed at the disposal of visionary fanatics, to squander it recklessly, and with it the lives of thousands of brave men without accomplishing any legitimate object of the war. The faction have already to mismanaged the finances entrusted to them that, according to their own showing the nation is on the verge of bankruptcy, and they have so mismanaged the war itself, both in its political and military aspects, that capitalists will be very reluctant to invest their money in any enterprise conducted by such destructive.
There are no men of brains among so narrow-minded a faction.
A Cabinet capable of steering the ship of State through the scaring breakers which surround her must come from a different quarter — from men of experience, men of large and enlightened views, whose heads are not filled with one idea to the exclusion of every other.
The malarial of any Cabinet that is to save the country from impending ruin must be constructed from the Conservative elements in the there public.
To continue the radicals of the present Cabinet, therefore in power, or to replace them by other revolutionary radicals, will be equally unsatisfactory to the bankers and men of capital, and cannot fad to bit in such financial embarrassment to the
Government as will arrest the progress of the war, from lack of sinews to make it move.
’
[From the
Washington Chronicle,Dec. 27]
We publish this morning a proclamation of the
President of the so called Southern Confederacy aimed expressly and definitely at
Gen. Butler, our energetic commander at New Orleans.
We think our readers will justify us in characterizing this as the most disgraceful paper yet issued by that greatest of the southern Confederacy.
It is filled with misrepresentations and and upon that it cases a mean, brutal, and cowardly revenge.
We do not recollect a case where a great nation, such as the
Confederacy to be through its constituted representatives has recorded in such unmistakable terms its hatred and letter of a single individual.
The nearest approaches to it are its executions of by the and the execution of Louis XVI.
by the Jacobinat; and these murders had some show of reason, because each of the victims was the head of the royalist party — the centre around which all the opponents of the rebellion raided.
But
Gen. Butler is simply a subordinate, commanding a small department, obeying the orders of his superiors, and responsible to them.
We look upon this simply as a portion of a concerned movement on the part of the cherries of the
Government both North and South, to have one of our most efficient and able
Generals removed a position where he is doing, perhaps more damage to the rebel cause than any other connected with the
Federal Government.
For menus the New York
World and
Herald have teemed with the grossest slanders upon
Gen. Butler, and have clamored most furiously for his removal.
The capture of New Orleans was the hardest blow the Secessionists have yet received.
The vigorous administration of
Gen Butler, and his eternal vigilance which has prevented the enemy from getting at him or getting out of his has exasperated them to the last degree.
Every exertion in their power has been made to decry his and to blacken his fame, and last of all comes this bullying and undignified threat of
Davis to hang him if he him.
This is only another instance of the desperation of the rebel cause.
A Government that felt strong and confident would never descend to so petty an exhibition of malice and revenge as this document evinces.
It is a proof of the terror which the emancipate on proclamation of the
President has struck to the hearts of the rebels.
