The New York
Herald, of Friday, the 15th inst., has been received.
The war news is meagre and generally unimportant.
Gen. Grant is still making rapid preparations for an advance on
Richmond, and the rebellion is to be crushed out in short order.
But notwithstanding the boasts of the
Herald there is a marked feeling of uneasiness displayed in the tone of its editorial.
In New York, on the 14th, gold rose to 189, but fell in the afternoon to 174.
These rapid fluctuations, says the
Herald, are startling and ominous, and if
Grant is dedicated in the coming campaign, the country will be deluged in misfortunes.
We extract the following items from the
Herald:
The gold excitement.
The excitement in the gold market yesterday seemed to be perfectly uncontrollable, and at one time the premium was run up to 189, but fell subsequently to 174.
The radical advance in gold during the morning excited the markets, and all commodities were held much higher; but the subsequent decline unsettled the markets and rendered everything nominal.
Flour advanced 10a25; wheat, 3a5c; whiskey and corn, 2a3c; pork, $1.
In an editorial on the wild excitement on the gold question which is now prevailing in New York, the
Herald says:
‘
There were some rather startling fluctuations in the prices of gold at Exchange place yesterday.--At ten minutes to ten o'clock in the morning the gold dollar started at 1.80 ½ in paper; three minutes later 1.85, and twenty minutes later it had run up to 1.89.
This was twelve minutes past 10 o'clock; but sixteen minutes after gold had run down to 1.82.
Thus within an hour our paper money had suffered a depreciation of nearly nine per cent and recovered six of its and at the close of the day the price ran down to 1.74.
This is indeed gold gambling run mad. There is no cause for these violent fluctuations.
They are the haphazard ventures of the faro banks.
But the community may well cry out to these gold speculators, as the frogs in the fable did to the boys who were pelding them with stones, "This may be sport to you, but it is death to us." We presume that the
Wall street gold operators yesterday were aware of the presence of
Mr. Secretary Chase in town, and indulged in their fantastic tricks just to show that they could snap their fingers at him. Where are we to look for relief?
Congress might help us; but Congress seems to be past all hope.
We look therefore, to
General Grant and his gallant armies for a rescue.
With his success we shall have better times; but should the
Washington Directory or the accidents of war entangle him so as to bring upon him misfortune instead of success, why then
we may look for the deluge. ’
Prohibition of speculation in gold.
In the House of Representatives, on Thursday,
Mr. Stevens, of
Pa., tried, just as the
House was about to adjourn, to get in a bill to prevent speculation in gold, but the opposition members objected , and insisted on adjourning without transacting any further business.
In the
House, the case of
Mr. Long, of
Ohio, was discussed throughout the entire session.
Mr. Colfax withdrew his resolution to expel
Mr. Long, and accepted
Mr. Bromalt's resolution of censure.
The debate was very spirited, and the galleries were crowded with spectators.
Finally the resolution censuring
Mr. Long for declaring himself in favor of the recognition of the rebel Confederacy was adopted by a vote of eighty against seventy.
A Presidential convention to be held at Cleveland, Ohio.
A dispatch from the
Herald's correspondent, from
Washington, states that arrangements had been definitely made for the meeting of a popular convention, including delegations of the Republicans dissatisfied with the present administration, to be held at
Cleveland, Ohio, about the 20th of May next.
It is proposed to nominate then and there a consolidate for the Presidency.
The peculiar advocates of the election of
Mr. Lincoln are much more alarmed at this movement than at the prospect of either financial or military disasters.
Military operations--two hundred prisoners captured by the rebels near Alexandria, La.
The
Herald has the following remarks on military operations in its "situation" article:
‘
Gen. Grant was in close consultation with the
President yesterday morning.
He will probably leave for the army to-day.
The third division of the second corps, commanded by
Gen. Birney, was reviewed yesterday by
Geo. Hancock, and presented a splendid appearance.
Gen. Meade was present, and complimented the division and its commander.
’
It was reported, but on vague authority, that the rebels had been seen recently in the
Blue Ridge.
Our news from
North Carolina as to the effect that
Gen. Morgan is about to make a bold expedition to some quarter.
By the arrival of the
Creole from New Orleans we have some interesting intelligence from the
Gulf.
Rumors were rife to the effect that the rebel rams
Missouri and
Shreveport were blown up by their crews on the 26th ult., to prevent their falling into the hands of the
Union forces.
This fact is stated by the Natchez
Courier of the 1st . It was said that while a body of Union troops, numbering 200, were at breakfast near
Alexandria, they were surrounded and captured by
Gen. Dick Taylor.
It is reported that a brilliant fight recently took place at
Pensacola; between the Thirteenth and Fourteenth cavalry, and the Fifteenth Alabama cavalry (.) in which the rebels were almost annihilated in a hand-to hand encounter with sabres.
Another demand for the surrender of
Paducah, Ky., was made by the enemy yesterday, and again refused by
Captain Hills, who seems determined to fight it out.
Our correspondents in
East Tennessee send us the information that the main force of
Longstreet's army had fallen back into
Virginia as early as the first week in April; but an independent body of his troops, about 2,000 strong, had wheeled by
Warm Springs, apparently with the intention of joining
Joe Johnston's forces in
Northwestern Georgia.
