We have received New York papers of Friday, the 24th instant.
Gold, 151 1-8.
"no New proclamation — no New terms."
The New York
Times is afraid that
Lincoln will issue some new proclamation, offering more "terms" to the
Confederates.
It says, under the above heading:
‘
The
Tribune again raises the cry for a proclamation of the
President presenting overtures to the rebels.
It declares that the
Southern people must now be fully satisfied that a Southern Confederacy is impossible, and that an offer of liberal terms would probably detach them from their leaders, and bring them back to the
Union without further bloodshed.
It considers that the proclamation should particularly set forth the Presidential policy on the six following points: Union, Amnesty, Confiscation, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Representation in Congress.
’
We have no idea that the
Tribune will be gratified.
The President has already said all that he can say, and all that is needed.
The Southern people, as a body, perfectly well understand what he has declared from the beginning, that they can have peace by submitting to the
Constitution and laws, and on no other condition.
They also understand that so far as he has any discretion in the premises, his policy is generous.
In none of the
Southern cities that have recently come into our possession--
Savannah,
Charleston,
Wilmington — has there been a necessity for any effort to dispel misapprehensions concerning the disposition of the
Government.--The readiness of the people to bestow their confidence, proved that all the lying of the rebel press concerning an intention of
President Lincoln to grind and ruin them has cased to have the slightest effect.
The thousands who have deserted from the rebel armies, without a single misgiving concerning the treatment they were to receive, are witnesses of the same fact.
It is absurd to guage Southern intelligence upon this point by the mendacity of the rebel prints.
The white man is not more obtuse than the negro, and the latter was not deceived by all the assertions that the
Yankees, if they got hold of them, would sell them to Cuban masters.
No conciliatory language that
President Lincoln could use would hasten the submission of the
Southern people one single hour.
What is needed, and all that is needed, is the dispersion of the rebel armies, and the breaking up of the civil organization of the rebellion by the arrest of its leaders and managers.--This is the province of the strong arm, not of the bland tongue.
If the
Tribune means that the military and civil chiefs of this rebellion should be asked to submit with an offer of full amnesty and condonation, it is wide of the mark.
Such an offer would probably only be laughed at by the men to whom it was addressed; and certainly it would not be tolerated by the loyal sentiment of the country.
After these men have once submitted, the disposition that shall be made of them may become a serious question; but, most assuredly, they will get no bribe or personal promise in advance as an inducement to submission.
The Government will not bargain with men who are striking at its life.
It will vindicate its authority and establish its power first of all. When that is done, the time will come for determining what shall be accorded to justice and what to mercy.
The lesson that must go into history for all coming generations is, that under our Constitutional system, rebellion is not a paying business, but the reverse — that the
Government, as the organ of the
Constitution, has both the power and the will to make good the supremacy of the
Constitution, and the binding force of all laws duly enacted under it. This principle is on the eve of a complete vindication.
It only wants the rounding off of military work, which, at most, will occupy but little more time.
When this is consummated, the rebellion will be no longer a living thing.
Submission will take its place, and the
President will be left free to adapt himself to a new situation.--The wisdom of the policy which will follow, needs no better guarantee than the grand result of that policy which has governed him from the first blaze of the rebellion, and which will govern him to its last spark.
A Washington telegram of the 22d says:
‘
The
Republican extra says the
Government has received intelligence that, on Sunday last,
General Sherman's army entered
Goldsboro', North Carolina.
His march was unopposed.
’
The two armies of
Sherman and
Schofield have formed a junction.
The
Republican extra further says
Sherman's present command is sufficiently formidable to confront
Lee's whole army in the open field, without the assistance of
Grant, and no force that the rebels may raise can impede
Sherman's triumphant march northward.
A special from
Washington, to the
Evening Telegraph, says a messenger arrived, with news from
General Sherman to Monday,
via City Point.
Goldsboro' was occupied by our forces on Sunday, and the army moved immediately in pursuit of the enemy.
Refugees all report that
Johnston is moving to
Richmond to join
Lee, and that his army is really unfit for heavy fighting, and that
Hope's troops are the only men that can be relied upon.
Raleigh will be captured with but little, if any, fighting.
General Sheridan is off on another raid. It is said that he will intercept
Johnston in his retreat.
The Army of the Potomac is believed to be advancing west.
A great battle is expected soon.
A letter from
Newbern says:
‘
The
Neuse river is navigable for vessels of light draft as far as
Goldsboro', but during the war none of our vessels have penetrated higher than
Kinston, where the railroad bridge, which was without a draw, obstructed further progress.
The completion of the railroad from
Kinston to
Goldsboro' together with the navigation of the
Neuse to
Kinston, will fully supply both
Sherman and
Schofield.
’
Both
Beaufort and
Newbern will be made bases of supplies.
The steamer
Euterpe sailed to day for
Beaufort with a cargo of clothing for
Sherman's army.
Quartermaster-General Meigs was a passenger on board.
A letter in the New York
News says:
‘
If it is true, as has been stated, that
General Grant has kept himself fully informed of
Lee's movement, and fully understands the strategy the enemy is employing, he will most likely move his left against the Southside railroad, in order to compel the evacuation of
Petersburg first, and endeavor to intercept
Lee's flight from
Richmond, if successful in the former movement, If
General Sherman can take care of himself without
General Grant's assistance, the latter can doubtless succeed in the movement, and thus the rebel army can be disposed of in detail.
The first step to be taken, however, is to get
Lee out of his entrenchments, either by drawing him out by a flanking movement against some vital point, such as the
Southside road, or by driving him out by an assault in which the fleet may take part.
As long as
Lee remains in his intrenched lines he is a formidable adversary, and his position, with two lines of railroad — as far as
Burkesville at least — over which to operate, is such as to require the most vigilant watchfulness to penetrate.
As he is now situated, he can so mask his designs as to transport half his army out of
Richmond, and precipitate it against
Sherman almost before the movement can be discovered.
’
It is reasonable to suppose that
General Grant would require the aid of a strong cavalry force to assist him in the execution of the plans for the active campaign.
Sheridan therefore joined him, after having carried out his instructions in making the recent raid, and is now said to be in the saddle again, but this time for the double purpose of opening communication with
Sherman and raiding upon such important strategic points as
Burkesville and others.
The latter part of his mission will probably partake more of the character of a reconnaissance, to uncover the designs and movements of the enemy than to attempt the capture of any point.
He is one of the boldest riders of the day, and whatever is given him to do, that he will accomplish.
Thomas's report of his captures from Hood.
General Thomas says, in his official report, that from September 7th to January 20th, five and a half months, his captures numbered about 13,189 men, including seven general and 1,000 other officers, and 72 pieces of artillery.
Over 2,000 deserters were received, and a great deal of valuable ammunition and other war material was captured.
Our own losses of all sorts are under 10,000.
Miscellaneous.
The decline in gold seems to affect manufacturing interests.
In
Newburyport, on Monday, the directors of the
Globe mill voted to suspend work for one month; and the Bartlett directors voted to suspend one-half their work.
The Legislature of
Michigan has passed a joint resolution to submit to the people, at the fall election of 1866, an amendment to the
Constitution to allow negroes to vote.
Key West correspondence gives an account of an unsuccessful expedition which started from there about the last of February to release about three thousand Union prisoners confined at
Thomasville, in Georgia, near the
Florida line.
The Yankee forces got up
St. Mark's river, but were driven back when about twelve miles from
Tallahassee.
The casualties, they say, amount to a little over one hundred in all.
On the 15th instant, a medium-sized steamer, called the
Louisa Ann Fanny, arrived at
Havana from
Nassau, and was believed to be going immediately to
Bermuda to fit out as a rebel pirate.
The Oral was then at
Havana, having a large number of men on board, who were supposed to be the crew destined for the other vessel.
The investigation into the origin and history of the Knights of the
Golden Circle, in
Illinois, shows that while the Chicago
Times was daily denying the existence of that or any other secret society of disloyal proclivities, five of the editors and reporters of the truthful sheet were members of the Order.
The
Platteville (Wisconsin) Witness notes the return home of
Miss Georgianna Peterman, who has been for two years a drummer in the Seventh Wisconsin regiment.
She lives in Ellenboro', is about twenty years old, wears soldier clothes, and is quiet and reserved.
Right
Rev. Alonzo Potter,
Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of
Pennsylvania, has been compelled to seek entire rest from his labors in a trip to
California.
Among the indications which presage an early movement of the Army of the Potomac, is the fact that agents of the Sanitary Commission at the front have, for the past few days, been making requisitions for stimulants, &c., on their principal officer here.
It is said, on the authority of a distinguished
Senator in
Washington, that
General Grant predicts the evacuation of
Richmond within ten days.
The
Nashville Dispatch gives full details of the capture of a passenger train on the Louisville and Nashville railroad, on Tuesday last, near Glasgow junction, by
Harper's guerrillas.
All the passengers were robbed of money and clothing; one
Captain Tallmadge of five thousand dollars. Six cars were burned.
The mails and private baggage were saved.--Sixteen persons were wounded when the guerrillas fired upon the train, and one soldier is reported to have been killed.
The War Department orders that hereafter no persons will be permitted to embalm or remove the bodies of deceased officers or soldiers unless acting under the special license of the
Provost- Marshal of the army, department or district in which the bodies may be. Provost-Marshals are to regulate the business and see that embalmers are competent and honest.
Charley Osage, a distinguished chief of the
Osage tribe, died on Tuesday last, at the
City Hospital at
St. Louis.
A few days before his death one of his legs had been amputated, and he suffered greatly from the operation.
Charley was about the last of the
Indian inhabitants of the city, and was well acquainted with the early settlers.
