Late Northern, News.
From the latest Northern papers we make up a summary of the news in the
United States.
The
Yankees think it was
Forrest who captured their transports and gunboat on the
Cumberland river — It was
Wheeler, and we are glad to see that he took the negroes found among the crews, and carrying them ashore gave them a good cowhiding.
The feeling at
Nashville about
Rosecrans is described by Federal letters as "very gloomy," There has been a heavy snow in the
West ranging in depth from six to ten inches. In
Kentucky the railroad trains are generally blockaded.
The Losses in the Banks expedition.
The heavy loss of vessels in the Banks expedition to New Orleans is leaking out, though it was most carefully concealed by the
Federal Government.
The wrecks of ships belonging to the expedition are said to be strewn all along the shore between New Orleans and New York.
The New Orleans correspondent of the Philadelphia
Inquirer asserts as his belief, based upon personal knowledge and information derived from other sources, that not less than fifteen vessels belonging to the expedition "have been wrecked, disabled, condemned, or have gone down at sea and no account made of them." The correspondent adds:
How our poor soldiers have suffered none can imagine, much less describe.
Piled between the decks of creaking, groaning, leaking, rotten old tow-boats that were, before being chartered for the expedition, entirely unfit to navigate our rivers — some of them, in fact, laid up, because there was fear of their sinking in the
North river, and sent on a sea voyage that should require the stoutest sea-going ships.
Who can imagine the misery our brave troops have suffered?
and what is still worse, there is a disposition on the part of those in authority to bush the thing up, and give as little information to the public as possible.
Coming down the coast in the steamer
Albany, I happened to notice the transports
Jersey Blue,
Thames, and
Sanford.--The two first, crowded with troops, were sinking in
Port Royal, and the last was a crumbling wreck off
Carysfort Reef.
Now, strange to say, when I arrived here, although several vessels were in port before us, nobody seemed to be informed of the disasters I have mentioned.
Hence it will readily appear that a dozen of like character may have happened, and all except those immediately in the secret remain ignorant of them.
Rosecrans's order for the Imprisonment of Confederate officers.
Hdq'rs Dep't of the Cumberland Murfreesboro', Jan. 6, 1863.
General Order No.--The General commanding is pained to inform the commissioned officers of the Confederate army, taken prisoners by forces under his command, that, owing to the barbarous measures announced by
President Davis in his recent proclamation, denying parole to our officers, it will be obliged to treat them in like manner.
It is a matter of regret to him that it is rigor appears to be necessary.
He trusts that such remonstrance as may be made in the name of justice, humanity, and civilization may reach the
Confederate authorities as will induce them to pursue a different course and thereby enable him to accord to their officers the privileges which he is always pleased to extend to brave men, even though fighting for a cause which he considers hostile to our nation and disastrous to human freedom.
Protest of the (Union) Kentucky Legislature.
We have already published an abstract of the late Message' of
Governor Robinson, of
Kentucky, stating particularly his hostility to emancipation.
We find by late advises from
Frankfort that the State Legislature incline to the same views as
Governor Robinson.
In the Senate, on the 9th instant, joint resolutions were introduced, as follows:
Resolved, That
Kentucky hereby enters her somn protest to the
Emancipation Proclamation of
Abraham Lincoln, issued on the first day of January, 1863, because unconstitutional, and, if designed as a war measure, bate unwise and impolitic, that the
President of the
United States, as commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, has no power by the
Constitution, either by proclamation, manifesto, or edict, or any other way, to emancipate or liberate the slaves of any one; and such power, when assumed, is without any right whatever, and therefore unit and void.
That the loyal people of the
United States intend to put down this wicked rebellion at the cost of whatever of blood and treasure it might requite; but at the same time, they intend to preserve inviolate that sacred instrument, the
Constitution of the United States, and leave no precedent for any one in after life to take from them any of their lights.
That slavery in the
United States is peculiarly and exclusively a State institution, the control of which has never been given to the
General Government, and any State, now or after this rebellion shall have been put down, that has heretofore emancipated her slaves may again, in her organic law, incorporate said institution, and again foster and protect slavery, without the consent of the
General Government.
That the Union and Constitution must and shall be maintained.
A letter from Lincoln to the Defunct Napoleon.--he Commands an Immediate advance.
In the course of, the testimony delivered by
Major Gen. Hitchcock, in the
McDowell Court of Inquiry the following letter from Abraham was laid before the
Court.
My Dear Sir: Your dispatches, complaining that you are not property sustained, while they do not offend me pain me very much.
Blenker's division was with drawn from you before you left here, and you knew the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, it — certainly not without reluctant.
After you left I ascertained that less than 20,000 unorganized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be left for the defence of
Washington and
Manassas Junction, and a part of these even was to go to
Gen. Hooker sold position
Gen. Banks corps, once designed for
Manassas Junction was divided and tied up on the line of
Winchester and
Strasburg, and could not leave it without again exposing the
Upper Potomac and the
Baltimore and Ohio Road.
This presented, or would present, when
Gens,
McDowell or
Sumner should be gone, a great temptation to the enemy to turn back from the
Rappahannock and sack
Washington.
By explicit directions that
Washington should by the judgement of all the commanders of corps, be left entirely secure, had been entirely neglected.
It was precisely this that drove me to detain
McDowell.
I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to have
Banks at
Manassas Junction; but when that arrangement was broken up, and nothing was substituted for it, of course I was not satisfied.
I was almost constrained to substitute something for it myself.
And now allow me to ask; Do you really think I should permit the line from
Richmond via
Manassas Junction to this city to be entirely open, except what resistance could be prevented by less than 20,000 unorganized troops?
This is a question which the country will not allow me to evade.
There is a carious mystery about the number of troops now with you. I telegraphed you on the 6th saying that you had over 100,000 with you. I had just obtained from the
Secretary of War a statement taken, as he will, from your own returns, making 100,000 men then with you and on route to you. You now say that you have but 93,000 when all en route to you shall have reached you. How can this discrepancy of 35,000 be accounted for?
As to
Gen. Wool's command, I understand it is doing for you precisely what a like number of your own would have to do if that command was away.
I suppose the whole force which has gone forward to you is with you by this time, and if so, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow.
By delay the enemy will readily gain on you, that is, he will gain faster by fortifications and reinforcement than you can by reinforcements alone.
And once more, let me tell you, it is indispensable to you that you strike a blow.
I am powerless to help this; you will do me the justice to remember I always wished not going down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near
Manassas, as only shifting and not surmounting a difficulty; that we would find the same enemy and the same or equal entrenchments at either place.
The country will not fall to note (is nothing now) that the present hesitation to move upon an entrenched enemy is but the story of
Manassas repeated.
I beg to assure you that I have never written or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as in my most anxious judgment I consistently can. But you must act.
Disclosures about the feeling in the Grand Army.
The New York
Herald, of Saturday, has a characteristic criticism on a letter which appears in the New York
Times, written from the army of the Potomac.
The
Herald says:
‘
One of our Abolition organs of this city published a letter yesterday, purporting to come from the "Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac," Which is a contribution by wholesale of "aid and comfort to the enemy." All the declared treasonable or disloyal publications of all the newspapers heretofore suppressed by the
Government amount to nothing compared with the mischievous fissures, if tone, of this sensation letter of our afore said Abolition contemporary.
It tells the world and the rebel army in front of ours at
Frederick's burg that the "Administration looks with distrust on the Army of the Potomac," and that that army looks with distrust on the Administration;" that
Gen. Halleck has denounced this army as "disaffected and dangerous,' and that in fact, "the Army of the Potomac has ceased to exist; " that "the animosity in
Washington towards the army is amply repaid by the bitterness of the army towards the
Cabinet;" that
Gen Burnside had been ordered to move against the enemy "last Thursday week," and that the order was countermanded with the discovery that some of his
Generals "had no confidence in him;" that the army is demoralized and in a dangerous position, and that the
Cabinet is debating whether to break it up, to appoint a new commander, or to try another advance under its present organization and leader; and so on to the end of the chapter.
Had a spy been employed by
Jeff Davis to come over into our lines and gather all the information that he possibly could, calculated to demoralize our army, to strengthen the enemy and weaken the
Government he would have returned abundantly satisfied with a copy of this aforesaid letter.
In the simple fact that the Army of the Potomac has remained stationary since the
battle of Fredericksburg, there is evidence of something wrong; and from the numerous idle rumors, and bits of fact, and ingenious exaggerations, afloat in
Washington, it is easy to understand how the disclosures of the letter in question were woven together.
But, whether false or true, if such efforts among our professedly Administration Journals hold up to the contempt of other nations and to the advantage of the enemy our army and our Government can be quietly permitted at
Washington, it may as well be proclaimed at once that the loyal States are open for the establishment of newspapers directly in the service and pay of
Jeff Davis.
’
Gen. Sherman's farewell to the Army of Tennessee.
At
Milliken's Bend General Sherman issued the following order, taking his farewell of the Army of the Tennessee:
General Orders, no. 5.
Pursuant to the terms of
General Order No. 1, made this day by
General McClernand, the title of our army ceases to exist, and constitutes in the future the Army of the Mississippi, composed of two "army corps," one to be commanded by
General G. W. Morgan, and the other by myself.
In relinquishing the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and restricting my authority to my own corps, I desire to express to all commanders, to soldiers and officers recently operating before
Vicksburg, my hearty thanks for their zeal, alacrity, and courage manifested by them on all occasions.
We failed in accomplishing one great purpose of our movement, the capture of
Vicksburg; but we were part of a whole.
Ours was but part of a combined movement, in which others were to assist.
We were on time; unforeseen contingencies must have delayed the others.
We have destroyed the
Shreveport road, we have attacked the defences of
Vicksburg, and pushed the attack as far as prudence would justify, and having found it too strong for our single column, we have drawn off in good order and good spirits, ready for any new move.
A new commander is now here to lead you. He is chosen by the
President of the
United States, who is charged by the
Constitution to maintain and defend it, and he has the undoubted right to select his own agents.
I know that all good officers and soldiers will give him the same hearty support and cheerful obedience they have hitherto given me. There are honors enough in reserve for all, and work enough, too. Let each do his appropriate part, and our nation must in the end emerge from this dire conflict purified and ennobled by the fires which now test its strength and purity.
All officers of the
General Staff not attached to my person will hereafter report in person and by letter to
Major General McClernand, commanding the Army of the Mississippi, on board the steamer
Tigress, at our rendezvous at
Gaines's Landing and at
Montgomery Point.
The New Orleans churches re-opened
Gen. Banks has rescinded
Butler's order closing sundry Episcopal churches of that city for the omission of the prayer for the "
President of the
United States" from the service.
We quote from the re-opening order:
‘
An application for the suspension of the order closing certain closing certain churches in the city of
New Orleans has been presented to the
military Governor of the
State, and by him referred to the
Major General commanding.
An omission in the church service seemed to have been made by direction of the church government, is understood to have been the basis of this order.
Where the head of the
State is also head of the church, an omission like that referred to would be a contravention of political authority, but the government does not here assume that power, and the case presented does not seem to require a continued intervention of military authority.
The order is, therefore, provisionally rescinded, and the churches will be reopened as heretofore, on and after Christmas day.
This decision is based upon the negative character of the offence charged.
’
The Democracy of Illinois.
Since the news of the election of
Mr. Richardson to the U. S. Senate, the Democrats held a most meeting at
Springfield, in which they denounced the emancipation proclamation and the
Lincoln Administration in severe terms.
A correspondent of the St. Louis
Democrat says:
‘
The committee of the
Democratic meeting held last evening met this evening.
A portion of the committee calling themselves moderates, are in favor of demanding an armistice from the
President, with a view to peace, regarding the subjugation of the rebels as impossible.
Another portion are in favor of demanding the
Governor to immediately withdraw the troops from this State from the field.
They say the troops were enlisted by the administration on a fraudulent pretence, and justice demands that they should be withdrawn.
If the
Governor refuses to do so, he is to be compelled to do it. You may set it down that the leading aspirants among the Democrats are for a revolution in the
State rather than a longer continuance of the war. The opposition to the proclamation is a mere pretence — the Democrats have been opposed to the war from the start.
They think the present the best opportunity for arresting it. A man is not now afraid to say he is a K. G. C. Your correspondent night call and every Democrat in the
House a Knight of the
Golden Circle, and they would only laugh at him. Good joke!
’
The Expiring enlistments in the Army of the Potomac.
A correspondent of the New York
World thus writes from
Burnside's army about the troops there whose terms of enlistment are soon to expire:
‘
Officers and soldiers who count the days and weeks and months of their term of service are conscious of what the people are not, viz: that the whole brilliant army of six hundred thousand men which marched into the field at the outbreak of the rebellion is, on the average, now on the last half of its term of service, and that at least fifty of its regiments (two years men) will march homeward before the first of next June.
We figure eight hundred thousand men — on paper; but the morning report's of the armies belle the statement.
We speak of our brigades, and divisions, and corps and number their thousands by the number of regiments; but-the men to make them are not there.
The only place where eight hundred thousand men can be found is on the pay rolls.
And the
Government is to day paying more men
out of the army, in hospital, on authorized or unauthorized leave of absence, and on special or unauthorized detached service, than it is men in the ranks, doing regular duty.
Half of every regiment is paid on descriptive lists, procured by men in hospital and elsewhere from their company officers, and forwarded to their paymasters.
’
The Republican party breaking up.
A Washington telegram, of the 16th, in the New York
Herald, says:
‘
There is much caucusing and consultation by the Republicans in Committee of the Whole on the state of the party, upon the boat means of preserving their political organization from destruction.
They talk of reorganizing the party, but in what manner does not yet appear.
Greeley has been extremely busy.
He is not organizing black brigades, as has been supposed, but reorganizing the Republican party.
Some of the leading radicals who were in consultation with him last might shake their heads ominously, and declare that this in the darkest day the country has yet seen.--Prominent Republicans acknowledge that they have lost their hold upon power in all except some
New England States.
Some of them predict peace as early as next June.
’
Requiem mass for the Fallen of the Irish brigade.
A requiem mass was said at the cathedral in New York on the 16th inst, for the souls of the Irish of
Meagher's brigade, who sacked the city of
Fredericksburg and paid for it with their lives the next day. An immense congregation was present.
The scene is thus described by the New York
Herald:
‘
The cathedral was itself a monument of sorrow clad in the hues of mourning.
Funerous taper lighted the antependium, and from altar to tabernacle dispelled the gloom which nature itself seemed to have thrown around the occasion.
The mid state of the church was kept vacant for the honored retains of the dead.
In the centre of the cathedral the memorial estafalque was crested, covered by a velvet pall, which, an usual, was ornamented by a while cross.
Twelve immense supers illumined the improvised tomb within which the remains of the brave symbolically slept.
On other side of the stood a guard of boner, consisting of twenty marines.
Two officers office stated as sentinels
An immense crowd of people had early gathered, and speedily filled up the pews and crowded the states.
A little after ten o'clock several officers the Irish brigade passed up the side.
Brig. Gen'l Meagher heading the cortege, followed immediately by the gallant
Nugent, presenting in worn looks and a halting step the proofs of his valor and devotion to country on the ensanguined field of
Fredericksburg.
Who more honorably or characteristically than
Nugent could represent Irish valor or Irish fidelity?
Through the kindness of
Capt Mead the excellent band of the North Carolina guard-ship were present, and assisted in the musical portion of the ceremony.
The "Disc Idea" was beautifully rendered by the choir.
At the class of the celebration of the mace
the Rev. Father O'Reilly ascended the pulpit and delivered the funeral oration — an eloquent and beautiful tribute to the gallantry and heroism of the fallen heroes of the Irish brigade.
After the sermon a dirge was performed, during which the clergy and attendant acolytes marched from the high altar to the cenotaph in the centre aisle in the following order; Acolytes, with Thurible and Navicular; Acolyte, with holy water; Sub-Reason, with cross taper bearers on either side; the Clergy, in double file.
The "Requiem Æ annum" was then pronounced after which arose the solemn strains of the "Requiescat in pace," when the large congregation dispersed.
’
Lincoln under his troubles.
Lincoln is said to be "growing gray" under his troubles.
The editor of the Cincinnati
Commercial, who saw him out recently in public, writes:
‘
The President and his wife visited the
Capitol on Saturday to look at the new buildings.
The President's face in repose has a careworn expression that seems to appeal for sympathy.
He may find a good many things yet that remind him of stories he heard in
Illinois and the stories may not be remarkably sober or neat, but no one can look in his face and believe that he is insensible to the responsibilities pressing upon him. I know he always had a doleful sort of physiognomy, but his features wore not two years ago the pale and pinched appearance that they now wear.
Those who see him often say that his hair is turning gray rapidly.
’
Miscellaneous.
There was a heavy snow storm all through
Canada on the 16th inst.
The steamer
Mary Boardman, with troops, from New Orleans for
Galveston, got news of the rebel capture of that place and turned back, thus saving the boat and man.
The Supreme Court of
Wisconsin has sustained the will of habeas corpus in the case of the Ozaukee rioters, arrested for forcibly resisting the draft.
Hon
Lot M. Morill (Republican) has been reelected
United States Senator from
Maine by the Legislature of that State.
Glass,
Elliott & Co., of
London, are about contracting with the United States Government to lay submarine cables along the coast from New York to New Orleans.
In the U. S. Senate last week
Senator Wilson sent to the
Clerk's debt, to be read, a letter which was addressed to him by
General Meigs.
The reading of a few sentences produced such a commotion that it was stopped, and the letter withdrawn by
Mr. Wilson.
The letter was very abusive of
Senators who had expressed suspicious of
Meigs's loyalty.
Senator Foster, of
Connecticut, introduced in the U. S. Senate a resolution looking to legislation to import from
Europe persons to supply the void made in industrial occupations by enlistments into the
Union armies.
Several of the gamblers who were taken before an Ohio court, on a writ of habeas corpus, were taken to
Cincinnati on Thursday, by a military guard,
Lincoln telegraphing to pay no attention to the writ of habeas corpus.
They next day paid over the amount of money won by them from
Cook.
The probabilities are now that the
Government will get back all the $2, 0000.
Tom Thumb's marriage to little
Lavinia Warren weighing :2 pounds, as invented, ordered, prescribed, and engineered by the all-pervading
Barnum, is officially announced to take place on the 10th of next month at a fashionable up-town church in New York.
Gorgeous cards of invitation will be issued to local aristocracy and to the friends and relatives of the parties, admitting them to the sanctuary, and also to the subsequent "reception" of the happy pair at one of the
Hotel — After the reception the bridal party will start for
Philadelphia, there to rest themselves until they shall be ready for
Baltimore and
Washington.
To make the "sanction" particularly striking, the ceremonies will be conducted with all the pomp and circumstance of a full-grown "diamond wedding, " especial Jenkinses being employed to extol the beauty of the bride's complexion, dress, and ornaments, the magnificence or the bridegroom, and the superlative aristocracy of the equipages attendant.
