Late Northern news.
We continue our extracts from Northern papers of the 6th inst.
"the last Agonies of the rebellion."
The New York
Herald has a rich article on the ‘"Last Agonies of the
Rebellion."’ It thinks that ‘"the violence of the Richmond papers, and the threats of retaliation on the part of the Confederate Congress, in reply to the proclamation of
Mr. Lincoln, are not to be regarded as evidence of the real sentiment of the
South, nor of any permanent or desperate resistance to our victorious arms.
They are but the dying kick and groan of the mortally wounded lion — the last agony of the rebellion — in which there is the appearance of resuscitation and renewed vigor, but only the appearance, for its vital force is expending and exhausting itself in the final struggle. "’ It says:
‘
The people of the
Southern States know by this time that we are terribly in earnest in the prosecution of the war for the
Union, and that, though three-fourths of the
Northern people do not desire to meddle with any Southern institution, yet if slavery is found to stand in the way of the success of our arms, or if its destruction should appear to materially aid us in the struggle, it will not be spared, and there will be but little hesitation in carrying out the programme laid down in the proclamation.
It is a humane warning on the part of the
President, to which thoughtful men at the
South will take heed, notwithstanding the ebullitions of passion from their press and their halls of legislation.
No matter what may be now threat on their part, it is not in human nature, and least of all in the
American type of it, to carry on a hopeless war, when it is once demonstrated to be of that character, especially in the terribly adverse circumstances under which the rebel leaders would be compelled to continue the struggle.
The condition of the insurgent army is deplorable, being not only without sufficient stores of food, but destitute of clothing and shoes at the approach of winter, and without the slightest chance of obtaining any adequate supply of these essential articles, to say nothing of salt, medicines, arms, ammunition, and other necessaries, which have recently reached the
South by running the gauntlet of our cruisers, but which will soon be effectually cut off, by perfecting the blockade, and by the capture of all the ports on the
Southern seaboard, including
Charleston,
Savannah, and
Mobile, so soon as our irresistible fleet of gunboats are completed and launched upon the waves,
The statesmen, planters, and other property owners of the
South will now begin to consider whether, instead of holding out, in the madness of despair, to their utter destruction, it is not better for them to return to the
Union and submit to the
Constitution and the laws before the day of grace expires with the present year, and when their peculiar institution is still intact, and when they can secure full protection for it, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizens of co-equal States, under the beneficent and most liberal Federal Government against which they revolted.
They must be aware that submission or extermination awaits them in the end, and before it comes to that, even common sense will suggest the adoption of the wiser alternative.
This may be humiliating to Southern pride; but, after all,
Americans are a practical people, and the people of the
South are
Americans like the people of the
North.
When one party is beaten in an election it cheerfully submits, and, no matter with what violence the previous contest had been conducted, the belligerents become good friends, and most of the beaten party chime in with the opinions of the victors.
It will be the same in this war, if the
Southern statesmen and politicians are wise in time, and do not let their day of grace go by, to shed the bitter tears of repentance too late, when the abolition programme may become, from the necessity of the case, the inevitable result of the continuation of the struggle, even if it were not the deliberate policy of the
Government.
We trust and believe, therefore that the increased violence of the rebel press and Congressmen is only like the wind which, after blowing for some time from one point, increases in violence till at last it becomes a gale, and then suddenly subsides and turns round to the opposite point, and the atmosphere becomes clam once more.
It is thus in our political contests, and the analogy will hold good even in our present bloody struggle, provided it is not protracted too long, and does not end in a war of extermination, which would result in a permanent change of the old relations between North and South, and perhaps a revolution in the character of our whole system of government.--But it is to be hoped that returning reason will exert her sway, and that the insurgent chiefs will take advantage of their next great defeat in the field, which cannot now be far distant, to lay down their arms, and, under a proclamation of general amnesty, return to the political fold from which they have strayed as lost sheep.
Certain it is we are on the eve of the most important military and political events in the history of the world — we are near the beginning of the end — and upon the next three months will depend the future of the country, for weal or woe, even to generations yet unborn.
’
Who is responsible for the failure of Lincoln's Administration?--Seward to Remain in the New Cabinet.
The
Herald, of the 6th, has a long article upon the failure of the Administration.
It says that ‘"it is now universally conceded that the present Administration is a failure."’ It thinks the time for discussing that fact has therefore passed, and the questions of interest now are: Who is responsible for this failure, and how is the failure to be remedied?
It says:
‘
These questions are being used by the radicals for the purpose of making a concerted and combined attack upon
Secretary Seward, in the hope of driving him from the
Cabinet.
But the radicals fear, while they hate,
Mr. Seward, and they attack him tremblingly, as if conscious of ultimate defeat.
They assert confidently and unanimously that the
Secretary of State is responsible for the failure of the Administration; but their proofs are weak and their arguments sophistical.
Evidently they accuse him in order to shield themselves, and his defence involves their condemnation.
That the ejection of
Mr. Seward from the
Cabinet is the object of the radicals is clear, from the articles of
Greeley in the
Tribune, of
Beecher and
Wendell Phillips in the
Independent, and of
Dr. Brownson in his
Review, and from the plottings of
Andrew,
Sprague, and the other radical Governors, in the recent conventions at
Providence and
Altoona.
All the radical abuse of
General McClellan is in fact directed mainly at
Secretary Seward, who is understood to approve of
McClellan's plans, and who is represented as the author of
McClellan's policy of conducting the war. This fact is openly confessed in
Brownson's
Review, which, in a labored article upon ‘ "The Seward Policy,"’ excuses
Halleck and
McClellan because they acted under the orders of the
President and his advisers; attributes our failures ‘"not to incompetent generalship, but to the policy of the Administration,"’ and, exonerating all other members of the
Cabinet, charges the responsibility of this policy, and consequently of all our failures, upon the
Secretary of State.
Of itself alone, the opinion of such a changeable chameleon as
Dr. Brownson, who is
Everything by turns, and nothing long,
is of no importance whatever; but just at present
Brownson's
Review is the authorized and recognized exponent of the radical abolition party, and the variable
Doctor himself is, for the time being, a leading member of that party, and intends becoming the radical republican candidate for Congress from a district in
New Jersey, unless he shall change his politics or his principles before the nominating convention assembles.
The sentiments of the
Review in regard to
Mr. Seward, are, therefore, the sentiments of the radicals, and
Dr. Brownson expresses the opinion of the radical leaders when he charges
Secretary Seward with ‘"weakness and moral cowardice;"’ with being ‘ "a compromising man;"’ with ‘"quailing before secession, and resisting it not more firmly than
Mr. Buchanan;"’ with ‘"ignominiously surrendering the national cause,"’ and ‘"virtually agreeing with the secession commissioners to a separation of the
Union;"’ with ‘"shrinking from open, decided, vigorous war;"’ with ‘"snubbing or relieving of his command every commanding officer in the army who has shown that he believed the
Government wished war to be waged in earnest;"’ with ‘"taking care to do the rebels no serious harm;"’ with being ‘"no friend of the military;"’ with striving ‘"to preserve slavery, and to prevent the war from operating its ruin, "’ and, finally, with ‘"regretting not to have the power of
Louis Napoleon, so as to make
coup d'etat against Congress."’
It will be observed that most of these charges, from that of favoring slavery and befriending the rebels to that of meditating a dictatorship, are identical with those made by the radicals against
Gen. McClellan, from whom they are now dexterously transferred to
Mr. Seward, by the argument that
McClellan is only
Seward's military representative, and is not responsible for orders which it is his duty to obey.
But the charges are as untrue of
Seward as of
McClellan.
Indeed,
Mr. Seward has already refuted most of them by endorsing and signing the emancipation proclamation of the
President, which was, until recently, the full extent of the radicals demands.
The other charges rest upon no better evidence than garbled quotations from
Mr. Seward's diplomatic correspondence, or sophomoric plays upon words, which may be witty, but are not logical.
The fact in regard to
Secretary Seward is, that his part of the programme of putting down the rebellion was to prevent any foreign interference, and in this he has succeeded.
Unlike any other member of the
Cabinet, he has been entirely successful in his own department; and from this fact it is a fair inference that he has had but little time or inclination to dabble in any other
Secretary's business.
He is to day the only popular man, because successful man, in the
Cabinet.
He has done and continues to do his duty, interfering with no General and with no other
Secretary, The people appreciate both this positive and this negative merit, and it is a for the radicals to attempt to convince them that a Secretary who has managed to hold all
Europe at bay, and in spite of threats of intervention has gained us time to continue and conclude our war, is responsible for the failure of the Administration.-- But, besides all this, the real culprit is known, and his fault can be proven.
The radicals are probably right in calling
Secretary Staunton ‘"only one of the
President's clerks, "’ a mere instrument of some one whose influence controls the
President and shapes the policy of the war. But this influential personage is
Mr. Chase,
Secretary of the Treasury, not
Mr. Seward,
Secretary of State.
Mr. Chase, originally a politician from
Ohio, is a man of some ability, good address, great tact, and remarkable cunning.
These qualities he has shown not only in securing for himself a seat in the
Cabinet, but in gaining a factitious reputation as a financier, and in doing a great deal of mischief during this war, while always contriving to lay the blame upon some other person.
He was, at first, apparently successful in his own department, and, as money is the sinews of war, this apparent success naturally gave him great influence with the
President.
When to this influence is added that acquired by his own cunning and address, and that secured to him by the support of all the radical organs and of the radical leaders in and out of Congress, we can very readily understand how it happens that
Mr. Chase became the controlling power in the
Cabinet, and was permitted to interfere disastrously with the
War and Navy departments.
’
* * * * * *
If we join the radicals, therefore, in asking a change of the
Cabinet, it is to get rid of
Mr. Chase, and not of
Mr. Seward.
The Administration will always fail until the
President, like
General Jackson, rids his
Cabinet of all Presidential aspirants, and finds
Secretaries whose ambition is to do their duties, each in his own department.
The country has yet to encounter greater perils than any we have escaped, and only with a conservative Cabinet can they be encountered successfully.
If the
President retains his present disunited, inefficient, and unpopular Cabinet, or replaces it by one still more radical, we tremble for the result.
The blockade business at Nassau — how it is done — Insult to the U. S. Consul.
A letter from
Nassau, N. P., dated the 26th ult., says there is very little commerce with the
South compared with what it was a few months ago, and contraband goods are lying there in want of vessels to carry them to Southern ports.
It adds:
‘
All the principal warehouses are filled with these goods, and they have no room to stow any more.
I have seen some shipped immediately before the eyes of the
American Consul — I mean arms, &c. It seems that the principal merchants (so called, as they have to complete what real merchants have begun — namely, forwarding contraband goods to aid the rebels) are nearly convinced that the blockading, ships are too much on the alert for them to risk any more goods.
One steamer — the
Anglia — has tried it, but without success.
She proceeded as far as
Charleston bar, and there met what she did not expect, and was chased nearly all the way back.
There is another now loading for one of the blockaded ports.
This is her second trip.
She made one successful, and is going to try it again; but I think she will not be as fortunate as on the first.
The regular packet steamer
Kate left a few days ago with a cargo of contraband goods.
There are very few arrivals from
England.
It seems that Earl Russell's letter to the Liverpool merchants has put a stop to it. I don't think they liked it much.
Any how, I am quite sure the rebel agents here did not, as some said he must be mad; others said that he never wrote it, and blamed
Mr. Clay for it.
All the steamers that come here are consigned to the houses of H. A. & Co., or to S. & Son. The senior member of the former firm took passage in the steamer
Bahama, together with that noted pirate,
Semmes.
The steamer
Peterhoff has sailed for
England with a cargo chiefly of cotton that has been brought here from Southern ports.
She was freighted by H. A. & Co., and S. & Son. A few days before she left some dispute arose between the junior member of the former firm and the senior member of the latter.
The former was called ‘"
Beauregard,"’ the latter ‘"
Stonewall Jackson,"’ and a fight ensued between these two rebel agents and enemies to our country; the latter, however, got the worst of it. The former was taken before a magistrate, and fined ten shillings. The latter has entered an action for two thousand pounds damages.
If he succeeds, all that they have made by their rebel agencies will be but of little avail to them.
Let me also inform you of a base trick served on your worthy Consul here.
He kept a fine boat for the purpose of rowing in the harbor, and some mean fellow went where she was hauled up, and filled her stern with coal dust and tar. I doubt not that it was the same mean scoundrel who insulted the officers of the U. S. ship
Adirondack.
He will, I hope, meet
Mr. Whiting some future day on American soil.
So far as I can hear, I believe
Mr. Whiting has been insulted in every possibly way. I am glad to see he takes it all in good part, but takes no more notice of them than of the ours that run about the streets.
’
Gen. G. W. Morgan's Federal army at
Cumberland Gap has escaped our forces and safely arrived at
Greensburg, Ky. The Cincinnati
Commercial gives the following account of his successful evacuation of the
Gap:
‘
Gen. Morgan left
Cumberland Gap on the night of the 17th of September, the force of the rebel
Gen. Stevenson being at that time within three miles of his front — that is to say, south.
He was completely cut off from the
Ohio by the forces of
Bragg,
Kirby Smith,
John Morgan, and
Marshall.--
Gen. Morgan left the
Gap amid the explosion of mines and magazines, lighted by the blaze of the storehouses of the
Commissary and Quartermaster.
The rebel commander,
Stevenson, was entirely surprised.
At 5 o'clock on the evening of the 17th, (a few hours before the evacuation,)
Gen. Morgan sent official communications to
Stevenson, and the officers of the two armies remained in friendly chat, under the flag of truce, for more than an hour.
All the guns at the
Gap were brought away except four 30 pound Parrots, which were too heavy for transportation.
The trunnions were knocked off.
During the march northward our army was constantly enveloped by the enemy's cavalry — at first by
Stevenson's men, and then by
John H. Morgan and his gang.
Our
Morgan maintained the offensive throughout, and on one occasion marched twenty-four successive hours.
Three nights in succession the rebel
Morgan's men were driven from their supper.
The rebel
Morgan first assailed the rear of our force, but changed his tactics, passing to the front and blockading the roads and destroying subsistence.
For a period of three days our troops had no water but that found in stagnant pools, and the quantity thus found was very small.
Humphrey Marshall was expected by the way, but declined to risk, himself in an effort to check the march of our Cumberland army, which made a march the most arduous and hazardous of the war.
’
Rev. Dr. Cheever on the proclamation — the Nigger on the track — the "cow-catcher of the universe" to interfere.
Rev. Dr. Cheever, of New York, had his say on Sunday last.
His brother in iniquity,
Beecher, got a week ahead of him on the emancipation proclamation, but we think
Cheever gets a little ahead of him in profanity.
From a report of his sermon we take the following:
‘
We do not mean to let this Union be destroyed or to let the rebel States go out of the
Union; for when the great fact was settled that the
Union was to be for freedom, by the help of God we will compel every one of the
Southern States to come back into it on the principles of freedom.
As soon as we came to that determination, God would give us the victory.
We will keep all we have got and get all we can from the
Government.
We do not mean to leave this infernal system as a legacy of misery to future generations.
We call upon the
Government, in the language of the
Constitution, to give us what it guarantees, ‘"a more perfect Union in liberty, justice, and equity."’ God had given us the opportunity to sweep away the whole oligarchy of traitors.
They were like pestilential flies under bark, and we had got them there, and now we would scrape the bark of this vermin, and put a cord of justice round the trunk.
We could not succeed in the prosecution of the war if we refused to listen to God, and yet His name had not been mentioned in any of the proclamations.
Dr. Cheever then proceeded to speak of the motives which governed the
President in issuing the proclamation of emancipation, and said in our treatment of the colored race we set an example which, if followed by the nations of the earth, would leave not assemblage of justice upon the earth.
God would not endure such guilt and such intense selfishness.
Two things were still prominent in the
Government and in the nation — the ignoring of the rights of the colored race and the practical denial of the
Government of God replacing our own views of expediency, instead of His eternal will.--The proclamation of the
Government told us in words that could not be made plainer, that they did not intend to do justice if it could possibly be avoided, and that if they could possibly get out of this rebellion without freeing a single slave they would do it. It was done simply as a matter of military expediency.
Our newspapers and men were shouting hallelujahs, not to God, for performing an act of justice and humanity from motives of expediency.
The heavens never beheld a more deplorable manifestation of national vanity and falsehood; for in the manner of this declared act (the emancipation of the slaves) there was nothing but the most unreserved national selfishness.
Was there justice, nobleness, or humanity in that?
Such principles taught by a Christian nation could not but he deplorable to the last degree.
He (the speaker) had scarcely a doubt that the
President felt like saying, when receiving congratulations for what he had done, ‘"You give me credit for a measure of generosity and justice I never intended, and therefore I cannot honestly receive the credit of it. We were driven to it, and didn't I tell you long ago that we would not adopt it except as a last necessity?"’
The speaker then alluded in scathing terms to the
President's plan for colonizing the negroes and eulogized
Fred Douglass who replied to
Secretary Blair (who undertook to persuade him that the colored race had better be colonized) that wherever the blacks went the whites were sure immediately to follow and rule them, and he (
Douglass) had no intention of running into the water to get out of the rain.
Dr. Cheever spoke of the demoniac hatred which he saw evinced to the during his stay in the country, and said that did not trust in God, and this thing were continued, the uprising of a great people would be at the ing of the vulture to pounce upon the lamb.--God was bringing the nation down upon until he did justice to the negro, and it was the most glorious manifestation of Divine Providence that the wrath of man would be brought to praise him. In conclusion he intimated his intention on a future occasion of calmly and carefully analyzing this most remarkable step in our Government, and of what materials the proclamation was composed.
In the providence of God in consequence of our treatment of the colored race, they were now lying directly across our track.--If we attempted to drive our cars over them, the attempt would be our ruin, not theirs, for the concussion would throw our country from the track.
God would shatter us while he protected them; and if the nation attempted to throw itself in the way of God's justice, He would not stop the train on our account,
but the cow-catcher of the universe will make of us dead carcasses.
He urged them to plead with God that he would bring the nation to a full acknowledgment of its guilt, and unable them to free every slave on this continent.
’
The political Contest in sew Fork.
The New York
Times thinks the election of a Democratic Governor of New York may work the ruin of the U. S. Government.
Even though
Seymour and his supporters may not be actual traitors, their success will give aid and comfort to the rebellion.
It says:
‘
It will be a heavy blow and great discouragement to the
Government in its tion. It will do more to encourage the rebels to persevere in their war upon the
Constitution and the
Union than could possibly be done within this State in any other way. And there is not a man living who would have more reason to rejoice over such a result, or to whom it would carry more solid comfort and encouragement, than the
President of the rebel Confederacy.
Every man knows this to be so.
Mr. Seymour himself knows it. The
Atlas and Argus knows it. The party have put forward so clearly the real spirit and
animus of the movement in the speech of
Mr. Seymour, which they adopted as their platform, that in spite of their feint protestations of loyalty and patriotism it is impossible for any man to doubt the real drift and tenor of the action they propose to take.
Whatever ulterior object may lie behind the movement — whether they design to surrender the
Government to
Jeff. Davis, and thus preserve the
Union, or to ‘"let the
South go, "’ and thus destroy it--one thing is very clear, they mean to encourage the rebels to persevere in the war, and to cripple the
Government in its efforts to push it to a victorious end. If they don't mean this, what do they mean?
They have organized their movement on the specific and exclusive ground of opposition to the
Government.
They denounce its action against the rebellion; they brand as illegal and tyrannical its efforts to protect itself against spies and traitors at home; they magnify its faults and vilify its motives, and do everything in their power to make it odious and offensive in the eyes of the world;--and then they put forward
Mr. Seymour as the representative of this hostility to the
Government, and, as such, ask the people of the
State to elect him Governor.
Is not this giving aid and comfort to the rebellion?
If not, what would be?
Now, we don't imitate the example our opponents have set us in calling them traitors, and invoking the penalties of treason against them.
We have not asked that
Mr. Seymour should be sent to Fort Lafayette, or that the editors of the
Atlas and Argus should be hanged, drawn, and quartered, for the aid they are proposing to give the rebel Confederacy.
We appeal to the people.
We ask
them to squelch this attempt to hamstring the
Government while engaged in a life and death struggle with its foes.
We ask
them to say whether the political weight of the
Empire State shall thus be cast into the scale of rebellion against the
Government.
The friends of
Seymour appeal to them to
end the war. But how?
By its vigorous prosecution?
By striking the rebels as quick, as hard, and as often as possible?
By making them feel the full evils of the war they have invoked, as a penalty for the crimes they have committed?
By stripping them of the means of waging war?
By seizing their agents and preventing them from giving them aid and comfort?
This is
General Wadsworth's method, not
Governor Seymour's. This is precisely the method on which Governur
Seymour and the party at his back are making war. It is precisely the method they are trying to stop.
They are for ending the war by compromise — by concessions to the
South--in a single word, by a surrender.
We appeal to the people to judge between them, and we have not the slightest apprehension as to the verdict they will give.
’
The capture of the Sunbeam.
The capture of the steamer
Sunbeam, from
Liverpool, laden with powder and arms for the
Confederate States, is announced in the
Northern papers.
She was taken off
New Inlet, N. C., on the 27th ult., by the steamer
State of Georgia.
A letter says:
‘
This morning at daybreak we made a steamer running along the
Frying-Pan Shoals, just on the
point of Smith's Island.
We at once shipped and gave chase.
The
State of Georgia also got under weigh and followed.
She, being the fastest boat, soon passed us, and under full head of steam steered to intercept the stranger.
It was just a nice question whether we should stop her in time.
Already the guns at the fort on
Federal Point had opened on us, and the shells were whizzing over our heads at each discharge.
We, however, stood on right for the channel, determining that if she got past the
State of Georgia we would sink her or be sunk ourselves by the fort.
The
State of Georgia at last got near enough to open with her Parrott rifle, and, sending a shot across her fore foot, she came to at once and ‘"caved in."’ We were all astonished that she should have given up so easily; but when we found that the bulk of her cargo was gunpowder it was not so very remarkable; for a shell in her cargo might possibly have blown her up. She proved to be the Anglo-rebel screw steamer
Sunbeam.
She was bound from
Liverpool, with gunpowder, arms, machinery and other stores; among them a large quantity of good liquor.
’
A regular rebel packet.
Mr. Disraell was good enough to observe in a recent speech to his constituents, that the great civil war in
America had ‘"increased his respect for the energy of human nature. "’ It is pleasant for us to have been able to do human nature this service with the eminent advocate of all the Caucasians, the atrabilious
Prometheus of Toryism, whose liver no eagle could feed upon and survive.
The operation has been rather expensive, so far as we are concerned, certainly, but we accept the result with gratitude.
Can we not extract a similar good from the successes of our Southern rebels in running the
National blockade?
Here, for instance, we find in the Richmond
Dispatch, of September 30th, the following item: ‘"The steamer
Kate, from
Nassau, successfully ran the blockade into
Wilmington on Thursday."’ This steamer
Kate ran into
Savannah early in July.
In the beginning of August she ran out of
Savannah and went to
Wilmington.
From
Wilmington she started for
Nassau about the middle of August, and now she comes back to
Wilmington, of course, with an ‘"assorted cargo"’ of arms and ammunition.
In other words, the
Kate is a regular rebel packet, performing her trips with ‘"regularity and dispatch,"’ and, no doubt, to the serious advantage of owners, shippers, and consignees.
Her successful voyages do not indeed tend to exalt our estimate of the officers of our blockading squadron.
Let us console ourselves, therefore, like
Mr. Disraell, by allowing them to ‘"increase our respect for the energy of human nature."’--
N. Y. Times. 
