From the North.
From the latest Northern papers which have come into our possession we make up the following summary of news:
A letter from
Chicago to the New York
Times.
says:
‘
We came near having an application of
Judge Lynch's code in our city a few days since.
An individual named
Ambler, a banker, made some expressions indicative of treasonable proclivities, which excited some attention and considerable indignation.
Demonstrations, which looked very much like tar and feathers, became so unmistakable that the gentleman prudently placed himself in retirement, and has not been seen since.
There is a large number of Southerners in
Chicago, many of them patriotic, but those who are not generally nurse their treason in private.
This is the first public expression that has been heard for months, and the result shows that it is not entirely safe to belch forth treason in the streets of
Chicago.
Last week a man was hung until he was nearly dead, and then treated to a ride out of town on a ball, at
Rockford, for expressions of a similar character.
’
The end of a Federal Battery.
The Federal papers are publishing the official report into the cause of the
Manassas defeat. --
Gen. Scott blames
Gen. Patterson for not being quick enough for
Johnston.
Mismanagement in the field is also alleged.
Here is a sample:
The advancing of our batteries 1,000 yards without adequate support, and the unfortunate mistaking of a rebel regiment for the batteries' support, was the fourth cause of that disaster.
If these guns had not been captured and turned upon our own troops, the strong probabilities are that we should at least have held the field, and that no panic would have ensued.
Capt. Griffin, of
Griffin's Battery, who had been placed in this advanced position, says:
‘
"After I had been there about five minutes a regiment of Confederates got over a fence on my front, and some officer — I took it to be the
Colonel — stepped out in front of the regiment, between it and my battery, and commenced making a speech to them.
I gave the command to one of my officers to fire upon them.
He loaded the cannon with canister, and was just ready to fire on them when
Major Barry rode up to me, and said, '
Captain, don't fire there!
those are your battery support.' I said, 'They are Confederates; as certain as the world they are Confederates.' He replied, "I know they are your battery support." I sprang to my pieces, and told my officer not to fire there.
He threw down the canister and commenced firing again in the former direction.
After the officer who had been talking to the regiment had got through he faced them to the left and marched them about fifty yards to the woods, then faced them to the right and marched them about forty yards towards us, and then opened fire upon us, and that was the last of us.
"Before this occurred I started to limber up my pieces, so thoroughly convinced was I that they were the
Confederates.
But, as the
Chief of Artillery told me that they were my battery support, I was afraid to fire upon them.
Major Barry said, 'I know it is the battery support; it is the regiment taken there by
Col.--' 'Very well, ' said I, and gave the order to fire in another direction with the battery; but I never delivered the fire — for we were all cut down."
’
Col. Averill says:
‘
"In going down the hill, after a general break, I saw an officer galloping along in front of me. I recognized
Maj. Barry, and cried out, 'Halloa,
Barry, is that you? ' He said 'Yes.' I said, 'Where is
Griffin?' He said, 'I am afraid he is killed.' I said, 'That battery is lost.
I am afraid we are gone up,' or some remark to that effect.
Barry then said, 'I am to blame for the loss of that battery; I put
Griffin there myself.'"
’
Difficulty with the Federals in Norfolk.
The
Norfolk (Va.) Union (Yankee) gives an account of a ‘"brutal outrage"’ committed in that city by a Secessionist on a newsboy.
It says:
‘
A little boy selling Northern papers accosted a young man upon the street with a view of disposing of his wares, when he was rebuffed in a most brutal manner.
The father of the lad being present, remonstrated against the treatment of his son, when the young Secessionist drew a knife on him. There was some excitement, but no damage was done by the incipient assassin.
Subsequently he was arrested by the Provost Guard and placed in prison.
Several gentlemen of respectability called upon
Provost Marshal Christensen and urged the release of the culprit on bail, offering any amount, and claiming consideration for the offender on the score of the respectability of his connections.
Capt. Christensen, to his praise be it said, declined to accede to the request.
With a firmness which does him infinite honor, that able officer intimated to the friends of the young man that he deemed the position of the individual — his respectability of relatives and intelligence — an aggravation of the crime, and he would not accept bail.
The offender, we are informed, is a nephew of
Chief Justice Taney, and but recently held a commission in the rebel army, and is at large upon parole.
We hope an example will be made in this case.
It is quite time that the rampant Secessionism of
Norfolk received a salutary check, and a fairer opportunity was never offered to give a wholesome lesson to these who are inclined to overt acts.
Let the respectably connected violator of the peace suffer fully the penalty of his offence; a regard for peace and good order demands that it should be so. And we think it quite reasonable here to observe that it may be well to inquire how far the Secessionists here are encouraged to carry concealed weapons.
’
The treatment of the Federal wounded.
The correspondent of the New York
Herald, who, a week or two since, highly praised the humanity of the
Confederate Surgeons to the enemy's wounded, now says:
‘
Their own wounded were provided with adequate accommodations in the houses and pleasant hospitals of
Richmond, while ours were not taken to the city till Tuesday week after the battle.--Many of them had in the meantime died of their wounds, and most of those were interred near the station.
At length our wounded were transferred to
Richmond, and regarded not as wounded, but as prisoners of war. They were placed in various warehouses, prisons where the air was impure and the ventilation shocking.
No surgeons were provided for them, save the single surgeon in charge of each hospital, and these took no means to relieve our sufferers, save in a single case, when a rebel surgeon produced a rusty saw and amputated a leg. The patient afterwards died.
Of all the rebel ladies that were so officious in attending to their own maimed, not one appeared among the wounded and dying strangers that crowded their city.
’
A letter dated
Front Royal, Va., July 12th, published in the Philadelphia
Inquirer, says of Southern female spies:
‘
These women are the most accomplished in Southern circles.
They are introduced under assumed names to our officers, so as to avoid detection or recognition from those to whom their names are known, but their persons unknown.
By such means they are enabled to frequently meet combined, but at separate times, the officers of every regiment in a whole column, and by simple compilation and comparative of notes, they achieve a full knowledge of the strength of our entire force.
Has modern warfare a parallel to the use of such accomplishments for such a purpose?--The chief of these spies is the celebrated
Belle Boyd.
Her acknowledged superiority for machination and intrigue has given her the leadership and control of the female spies in the
Valley of Virginia.
She is a resident of
Martinsburg, when at home, and has a pious, good old mother, who regrets as much as any one can the violent and eccentric course of her daughter since this rebellion has broken out.
Belle has passed the freshness of youth.
She is a sharp-featu
red,
black-eyed woman of 25, or care and intrigue have given her that appearance.
Last summer, whilst
Patterson's army lay at
Martinsburg, she wore a revolver in her belt, and was courted and flattered by every
Lieutenant and
Captain in the service who ever saw her. There was a kind of
Di Vernon dash about her, a smart pertness, a quickness of retort, and utter abandon of manner and bearing which were attractive from their very romantic unwontedness.
The father of this resolute black eyed vixen is a paymaster in the
Southern army, and formerly held a place at
Washington under our Government.
She has undergone all that society, position and education can confer upon a mind suited to the days of Charles the Second, or Louis the Fourteenth--a mind such as Mazarin or Richelle would have delighted to employ from its kinded affinities.
Well, this woman I saw practicing her arts upon our young lieutenants and inexperienced captains, and in each case I uniformly felt it my duty to call them aside and warn them of whom she was. To one she had been introduced as
Miss Anderson, to another as
Miss Faulkner, and so to the end of the chapter.
She is so well known now that she can only practice her blandishments upon new raw levies and their officers.
But from them she obtains the number of their regiments and their force.
She has, however, a trained band of coadjutors, who report to her daily — girls aged from 16 upward — women who have the common sense not to make themselves as conspicuous as she, and who remain unknown, save to her, and are therefore effective.
The reports that she is personally impure are as unjust as they are undeserved.
She has a blind devotion to an idea, and passes far the boundary of her sex's modesty to prime to its success.
During the past campaign in the
Valley this woman has been of immense service to the enemy — She will be now if she can.
’
Arms for the soldiers under the New call.
There are 160,000 stand of arms at present in the
United States storehouse in White street. Of these only a few are rifles of approved patterns.
The larger portion of arms on hand are of very heavy calibre, many of them being of the heaviest
Austrian pattern.
These arms, owing to their unwieldiness, could not be made very available.
It is supposed there are arms enough in the country at the present time to put an effective force of 200,000 men in the field, and as the
Government agents are receiving heavy and frequent consignments of arms from
Europe, it is probable that by the time the 300,000 men required under the new call are enrolled, there will be guns enough to supply the demand.--
N. Y. Com. Advertiser.
Escape of Confederate prisoners.
Some of the prisoners confined in Camp Morton
State of Indiana, attempted to take advantage of a
thunderstorm, a few evenings since, to make their escape.
About twenty-five of them raised the fence posts in the northeast corner of the camp near the road, by means of levers under the forum boards, and then rushed violently in a body against the fence, causing two or three panels to fall to the ground.
Through the door thus made they stampeded and took to their heels.
The guard was instantly alarmed and the long roll beat.
Nearly every man in camp that could be spared from duty joined in pursuit.
Thirteen of the twenty-five were retaken, of whom two were wounded.
The others escaped, but it is thought that they will be recaptured.
What the President said.
‘"Agate,"’ the
Western correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette, has found his way to
Washington, whence he writes under date of July 13:
On the single matter of the
President's belief as to the amount of our losses, we already have three or four contradictory versions; while I happen to know that every one of them conflicts with the statements the
President himself made to a certain party of four, only last Friday evening.
Said the
President, with marked emphasis, ‘"I
can't tell where the men have gone in that army.
I have sent there, at one time and another, one hundred and --"’ (perhaps prudence requires that I should leave the next two places for figures blank,) one hundred and --thousand men, and I can only find just half that many now. Where
can they have gone?
Burnside accounts to me for every man
he has taken — so many killed in battle; so many wounded; so many sick in the hospitals; so many absent on furlough.
So does
Mitchell.
So does
Buell, and so others; but I
can't tell what has become of half the Army I've sent down to the
Peninsula."
Baxter's fire Zouaves.
The correspondent of the New York
Tribune, writing from
Gen. McClellan's camp, alludes to the ‘"Fire Zouaves,"’ of New York city, as follows:
‘
I saw the Seventy-second Pennsylvania,
Colonel Baxter, on parade at sunset to-day.
This regiment consists of fifteen companies, and has now 972 on duty in the ranks, notwithstanding a loss of 157 at the
battle of Savage's Station, where it was the longest in the fight and suffered the severest of all the regiments engaged.
Appearing to-night in new clothing and with such numbers as to look like a brigade, a fine band inspiriting the steps and brightening the faces of the men, and crowds of spectators from other camps facing them round, I could not realize that this holiday spectacle was less than two weeks later than the bloody battle, the dusty march, those halting steps and those haggard faces.
’
From the army of the Potomac.
A letter from
Westover, July 18th, says:
‘
From the
James river there seems to be little news of interest.
The defensive works are about completed, which will protect the Army of the Potomac from any efforts of the rebels to drive it from its position.
Still, while the army is safe, it is not in so healthy a state as one could wish.
It has brought with it the seeds of disease from the malarious swamps of the
Chickahominy, and in spite of the increased healthfulness of the new position, its pure air and dry land, the army is suffering considerably from disease.
I am happy to say, however, that the health of the troops has been greatly benefited by the change of location, and I think that it will continue to improve, now that the trenching is about completed and a time of rest has arrived.
The
James river flotilla, under
Commodore Wilkes, is in a constant state of activity, in convoying transports up and down the river, and shelling out rebels from rifle pits and incipient batteries along the river bank.
For several days past there has been but little firing on our vessels navigating the river; but nevertheless the gunboats shell suspected points, and protect in other ways the vessels passing.
Still, no one is deceived by this silence of rebel guns and rifle batteries.
No one believes that they have relinquished the idea of obstructing the river by batteries, and every one here on the river is prepared to hear any day that a heavy or a number of heavy batteries have sprang up amid the woods on the river banks to occasion us a good deal of trouble, if not loss, before they can be shelled out by the gunboats.
The naval officers were very confident of their ability to keep the river clear, and if the thing can be done they will certainly do it. The gunboats are judiciously placed at suspicious points along the river, and are watchful as cats for the first sign of newly turned earth which shall indicate a rebel battery.
’
Arrival of Confederate prisoners.
On Saturday morning last three important State prisoners arrived in this city from
Martinsburg.
Their names are as follows:
Moses S. Grantham, State
Senator from
Berkeley county to the
Virginia State Senate;
I. Thornton Young, Confederate postmaster at
Martinsburg when in possession of the
Confederates, and Adam Small, member from
Martinsburg to the
Virginia House of Delegates.
They were all arrested in or near
Martinsburg.
They were sent to
Fort McHenry.
On Saturday evening seven Confederate prisoners arrived at the
Camden street depot, from
Harper's Ferry.
Their names are as follows: Traverse
Payne,
Andrew C. Groves, and
Jeptha Wintermine, all of
Virginia, and all held as State prisoners;
J. D. Henly,
Alabama;
George C. Glassford,
Virginia; Edwd.
W. Hartwell, Louisiana, and
Thomas Whatley, an Indian of the
Creek tribe, from
Louisiana.
The last four named are held as prisoners of war. The
Indian was attired in regular Confederate uniform, and converses fluently in
English.
They were all marched to the city jail, and transferred to the care of the warden,
Capt. Thos. C. James.--
Baltimore Sun, 21st.
Not so anxious to fight.
The same letter says:
‘
Distinguished officers of the army who are here say that the troops now before Richmone are all heroes.
The reported baptisms of fire and blood are upon them.
They have the heart to fight, and also know how to fight.
Recruits who join the ranks of the thinned regiments will be instructed as to camp service, as well as fighting by veterans.
It will be no place for cowards.
These, as says
Capt. Mott, of the artillery, ran away on the first day of the late series of battles, and are now scattered through the
North, telling wonderful tales of dangers and sufferings.
An officer who ranks with the bravest of the brave, says a great number of those who have returned as sick are veriest cowards.
Just on the eve of a battle they became sick.
A good many of the troops who are coming on here now are mere boys.
Bonaparte, in the great despairing campaign which turned against his star at
Leipsic, wrote home to send him men, and not boys, to perish by the roadside or to die in hospitals.
It is said that over twenty thousand men have got off from the Army of the Potomac on the pretence of sickness.
One member of Congress has got off several hundred.
Persons in office here are engaged in the business and are making handsome fees.
’
An affair of honor in Washington.
An affair of honor was to come off at Arlington House to-day, but was frustrated by the vigilance of the police.
It appears that
Capt. C. F. Mackenzie, of her Britannic Majesty's royal army, while at table at
Willard's a few nights ago, asserted the superiority of English over American arms.
Capt. Whittemore, of the U. S. volunteers, who was present, expressed his preference for the
Springfield over the Enfield rifle.
The
English Captain called him a fool, and instantly had a cup of tea thrown in his face by
Capt. Whittemore.
The result was a challenge from
Captain Mackenzie, which was accepted by
Capt. Whittemore, after having resigned his commission.
After the acceptance, it is said, the
English Captain desired to back out, but was informed that he must either fight or take a public horsewhipping.
The meeting was arranged for this afternoon, in the vicinity of the
Arlington House, but the police were at hand, and succeeded in arresting
Capt. Mackenzie.
His opponent escaped from the field as the driver of a pie wagon standing near at hand, and has not yet been arrested.
The Morgan raid.--attack upon Cynthiana — a train Escapes in a Shower of Bullets.
We find the following in the Cincinnati
Commercial, of Monday:
‘
The train which left
Covington for
Cynthiana yesterday morning, with
Capt. William Glass and his company, and their 12 pounder aboard, reached the town between 10 and 11 o'clock. There were reports at
Cynthiana that
Morgan was advancing on the place.
The train waited until four o'clock in the afternoon, when the rebels made an attack.--The engineer ran off the train in the midst of a shower of bullets.
We have conversed with two intelligent gentlemen who were on the train--one a resident of one of the interior towns of
Kentucky, the other the messenger of the Adams Express Company.
The Kentucky gentleman says there were several hundred men on hand to defend
Cynthiana, but they were not well organized or armed.
The rebels first made their appearance on the river side of the town, about two hundred strong.
They opened fire briskly, and
Capt. Glass, with his gun, moved up to open on them, when it was discovered that their demonstration was a feint, and that the real attack was to be made by the main body of the rebels on the opposite side of the town.
At this moment the train left.
As it was going off our informant saw
Captain Glass, with his gun, going at full speed to repel the main attack.
There had been a rumor circulated on the train before this by some badly-frightened boys, that
Capt. Glass was killed.
Of course it was incorrect, as our informant saw him doing his duty after the story of his death was circulated.
The rebels fired hotly on the train, as many as fifteen balls striking it. The fire was returned from some muskets aboard, probably without effect.
The firing of the rebels was principally at the engineer, who stood at his post, like a true man, and fortunately escaped without a scratch.
A boy on the train had the visor of his cap cut off by a ball.
No one was injured.
Four
Kentucky ladies were aboard.
They bore themselves bravely, being not a bit more frightened than the rest.
They sat upon the floor of the cars, and cushions were placed against the side of the car for their protection.
Our informant says the rebels seemed making the attack systematically and in pretty good order.
The detachment of them that appeared were on foot.
The main body was reported on horseback.
The music of
Capt. Glass's 12 pounder was heard very distinctly for some time by all persons on the train, showing that a fight was progressing.
The gun seemed to be fired with unusual rapidity.
The statement by the Adams Express messenger corroborates the above in all particulars.
The wires were cut near
Cynthiana just about the time the train left.
’
P. S.--We have a dispatch from Boyd's Station, sixteen miles this side of
Cynthiana, which says:
‘
"A messenger from
Cynthiana has just arrived here.
He left there at about 8 P. M., and reports
them still fighting when he left.
A party of ten of our men, acting as pickets, were cut off from the main army and retreated this way to Berry's Station.
He says that a good many have been killed, but did not know what number.
He says they are out of ammunition, and that they want all the forces and arms that can be sent immediately.
The country is in the wildest excitement.
"Two O'clock.--This messenger confirmed the report of
Capt. Glass, of
Cincinnati, being killed."
’
Financial.
[From the New York Herald July 22.
New York, Monday, July 21--6 P. M.
To-day's bank statement compares as follows with that of last Monday.
| Week Ending. | Loans. | Specie. |
| July 12. | $147,997,436 | $32,098,174 |
| July 19. | 148,827,423 | 31,926,609 |
| Increase | $829,987 | |
| Decrease | | $171,561 |
| Week Ending. | Circulation. | Deposited. |
| July 12. | $9,212,397 | $127,538,055 |
| July 19. | 9,153,301 | 129,485,977 |
| Increase | | $1,946,922 |
| Decrease | $57,096 | |
The decrease of specie is less than was generally expected, in view of the recent heavy shipments of coin.
Very little or none of the gold exported to
Europe, and shipped to
Tennessee,
Kentucky, and
Louisiana, for the purchase of cotton and sugar, has come out of the banks.
The increase in deposits is greater than was anticipated.
Money is again flowing hither from the country for employment, and unless speculation of some kind or other can be started, the banks will experience difficulty in employing their means.
The loans increased last week only half as much as the deposits.
Money was abundant to-day at 5 per cent. and we hear of loans on call below that figure.
Mercantile paper is quoted at 5@7 per cent. Certificates of public indebtedness are selling at 97, having sympathized with
United States sixes.
Demand notes are not very active at 108.
Exchange rose this morning to 132, but was afterwards quoted at 131½@132.
Gold rose at one time to 120½ but afterwards sold freely at 120, and in the afternoon at 119 ¾ it closed late in the afternoon at about 119⅝ bid. In alluding in this morning's article to the par of exchange, we meant of course sterling bills at 109¾ not at 100, as some persons in the street seem to have imagined.
It is not at all likely that we shall ever see gold at 115 and exchange at 100; but it is by no means unlikely, in the opinion of persons competent to judge, that we may this fall see gold selling at 115 and bills at 110, in which case gold would flow in this direction from
Europe.
The stock market took an upward start this morning, and there was quite an active inquiry for some of the speculative railway shares.
At the first board New York Central rose 1½
Erie ⅝,
Erie preferred ¾
Toledo 1½
Rock Island 1½
Galena 1¾,
Burlington and
Quincy 2,
Michigan Central 2¼
Illinois Central ½ guaranteed 1 ½ Pacific Mail ¼
Panama 1.
Government stocks remained where they stood on Saturday afternoon. It has transpired that the heavy sales of Governments which have been made within the past week were for account of parties who allowed themselves to be frightened by threats uttered by a few rural Congressmen on their passage through this city, to the effect that Congress would repeal the provision of the law requiring the interest on Government stocks to be paid in coin.
It was as atrocious to make such a threat as it was silly to believe in its fulfilment.
The public faith of the country is pledged for the payment of the interest on all the public debt in coin; Congress is just as likely to repudiate the whole debt as to recede from this solemn provision of the law. After the board there was a reaction of ¼a½ per cent in the leading stocks.
At the second board a part of the reaction was recovered, and the market closed steady, the following being the last quotations;
United States 6's, registered, 1881, 98¼a98½
United States 6's, coupon, 1881, 98 ½a98¾;
United States 5's, 1874, 86½a87; Treasury notes, 7 3-10 per cent, 102¼a102½
Tennessee 6's 50¼a50½
Virginia 6's, 50a52;
North Carolina 6's, --a64½
Missouri 6's 47a47¼ American gold, 119⅞a120.
