Late from the North.
Yankee Views of the situation of Affairs.
The following summary is taken from the New York
Herald of the 15th inst:
The situation.
There is no stirring news from
Yorktown to-day.
Everything is progressing well and quietly there.
The latest news from
Fortress Monroe represents everything quiet there.
The
Merrimac has made no movement since Sunday.
A dispatch from
Gen. Beauregard to the
Norfolk papers, claiming a great victory for the rebels on Sunday week, and the capture of eight thousand Union troops, is without the slightest foundation.
All reports published by us and received also at the War Department, are to the effect that the rebels were completely defeated and driven back to
Corinth, on the succeeding day, Monday.
Commodore Dupont reports to the Navy Department the capture of two schooners belonging to the rebels, loaded with rice and meal; also of a ship bound to
Charleston from
Calcutta, with over 2000 bales of gunny cloth, and a British sloop bound from
Nassau to
Charleston.
The future operations on the
Mississippi since the capture of
Island No.10 and the advance of our troops Southward, will be of an important character.
The progress of our army in
Alabama is most satisfactory.
A few days ago we were enabled to announce the occupation of
Huntsville by
General Mitchell.
To day we can report a most important advance still farther South, on the authority of a dispatch received at the War Department from
Nashville, stating that on Saturday morning two expeditions were started from
Huntsville by railroad.
One under
Colonel Sill, of the 33d Ohio, went east to
Stevenson, the junction of the
Chattanooga with the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, at which point they seized 2,000 of the enemy, and returned without firing a shot.
Colonel Sill captured five locomotives and a large amount of rolling stock.
The other expedition, under
Colonel Turchin, of the 19th Illinois, went west and arrived at
Decatur in time to save the railroad bridge, which was then in flames.
Gen. Mitchell now holds 100 miles of the
Memphis and
Charleston road, thus securing our position at
Huntsville and its vicinity.
By the arrival of the Norwegian at
Portland last night, we have five days later news from
Europe.
The question of iron batteries was the all-absorbing topic in
England, since the intelligence of the feat of the
Monitor in
Hampton Roads had been received.
All the leading journals are urging the necessity of constructing iron vessels.
The
Morning Post calls attention to the improvements which this country is making in ordnance, the weight of the shot thrown by the
Monitor being nearly double that used on board any of the British ships.
The brigs
Adelaide and
Mary Wright arrived at
Liverpool on the 2d instant, from
Charleston, having run the blockade.
They had cargoes comprising 14,000 bales of cotton, 200 boxes of tobacco, and a quantity of rosin.
They reported that a bark and four schooners laden with rosin had run the blockade in company with them, and further that the sunken stone fleet in
Charleston harbor is breaking up and the timbers of the whalers floating about the harbor.
With regard to the
Mexican question we have only the statement of the
Paris Patris that the
French and Spanish Governments intend signing a new treaty for the regulation of joint action in
Mexico.
[from the Norfolk day book]
In an article headed ‘"
Yorktown and
Norfolk — The Rebellion in a New Phase,"’ the
Herald of the 15th, holds out rather poor encouragement to the Feds to hope for a victory at
Yorktown.
McClellan is placed in front of a terrible army of rebels well entrenched, which, according to the
Herald, was not dreamed of, and it wants to know where the rebels obtained their information that that would be the road to
Richmond that they should have so well prepared themselves for the resistance of the
Northern troops.
Allusion is then made to the fact that our ‘"sea monster,"’ the
Merrimac, renders all help to
McClellan from wooden gunboats out of the question, and says while the
Merrimac remains intact and afloat she is worth an army of 50,000 men in the defence of Yorktown.
Reference to the
Merrimac brings up
Norfolk, and the
Herald is bitter in its denunciation of
Secretary Welles for allowing the
Yard at this place to remain so long in the hands of the rebels — furnishing them as it has with their large guns, &c.
Bennett says that
Norfolk might have been re-captured with ease at any time between August and December last, and thinks had it been done ‘"we should have had no difficulty whatever in the occupation of
Yorktown."’
In another article, on the recent naval scenes in
Hampton Roads, the
Herald says:
‘
"Nor does the criminality of the Navy Department end here.
It is not only responsible for the continued and threatening appearance of the
Merrimac, but also for the very existence of that vessel.
Five months ago
Norfolk could have been taken, and again and again
Gen. Wool has asked permission to capture it, but has been refused.
During that time the
Merrimac has been preparing, and now it takes vast preparation to destroy her and save the Union fleet, when long ago, she could have been seized at her dock by the
Union forces.--More than this, the Navy Department is responsible for all the loss of time and Life required now to capture.
Yorktown and
Norfolk, since the intention of the rebels to fortify and defend these places even at the cost of evacuating
Manassas was anticipated by
Gen. Wool and could have been prevented had the department allowed it"
’
