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Latest from the North.

Baltimore papers of Friday evening, the 7th inst., have been received. Gen. Jameson, who commanded at Fair Oaks, died at Bangor, Me., on the 6th. Gold sold in New York on the 6th at 131½. In Suffolk, Va., the Federal troops had become so hold in their robberies that the Commanding General had issued an order against it. The following is an extract from his order:

Complaints are made that houses and barns have been entered, animals taken, poultry killed, without any authority or necessity, by soldiers carrying three days full rations in their haversacks. Odd Follows' and Masonic Halls are reported to have been entered and plundered of their regalia, charters, and other valuables. A church is said to have been desecrated by some lawless miscreants having neither the fear of God nor man before their eyes, and its sacred vessels carried off.


From the Federal army.

The American, of last Friday, gives the following summary under its editorial head:

‘ The accounts from the army of the Potomac continue to show an active forward movement, with the probability of a great battle at an early day, if the rebels remain in the Shenandoah Valley. Gen McClellan's headquarters were yesterday at Rectortown, a point at the conjunction of the Alexandria and Winchester turnpike with the Manassas Gap Railroad. Our cavalry advance, under Gen. Pleasanton, on Wednesday pushed forward to Barboursville, near Chester Gap. Before reaching that town he met the rebel Gen. Stuart, with three thousand cavalry and one battery. A splendid charge was made on them by the 8th Pennsylvania cavalry, whilst the 6th regular cavalry attacked them on the flank. The rebels were completely routed, leaving ten dead on the field, besides seven captured.--Among their dead was a Captain, and the Adjutant of a Virginia regiment was captured. Our loss was one killed, and five wounded. The conduct of our cavalry in this action was splendid, and they only need an open field to show their ability to vanquish Stuart's celebrated legion. Gen. Bayard's command of cavalry has occupied Salem, after driving out the 1st Virginia cavalry regiment. Salem is on the Manassas Gap Railroad, between Rectorville and White Plains. The whole line of this road is now in our possession, and the left wing of the army will soon be put in direct railroad communication with Washington. The whole of the rebel forces are now driven beyond the Blue Ridge, and our army is in such a position as to intercept the rebel retreat towards the Rappahannock.


Seward on the "Piracies" of the "290"--England to be called to account--vessels Dispatched after the "290."

At a meeting of the New York Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday, the following letter from Secretary Seward was read:

Department of State.
Washington,
27th, October, 1862.
To the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the loyal, patriotic, and humane resolutions of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, concerning the recent destruction of American vessels near the A ores by pirates who went out from the shores of a friendly nation in violation of the restrictions prescribed by municipal as well as international laws.

By authority of the President, the subject has been already commended to the attention of the representative of the United States at London.--The views of the Chamber of Commerce concerning the same will, with pleasure, be promptly made known to him, and to the other diplomatic as well as the consular agents of the United States residing in maritime countries.

I have the honor to be,

Your obedient servant,
William H Seward,
The New York Commercial says:

‘ The Inc., a sailing war vessel, left this port yesterday; the sailing frigate Sabine has left New London, and the Vanderbilt and Dakota are under sailing orders. It is understood that they go to search for the Alabama. The merchants of this city, meanwhile, are discussing the propriety of sending some fast vessel, the Dreadnought, for instance, to aid in intercepting the pirate Semmes.--The Inc. is a ship of 800 tons, said to be very fast, and mounts nine guns. The Sabine is a first-class frigate, tolerably last, and is rated at fifty guns. --She probably carries less, but has very heavy metal. The Vanderbilt is one of the swiftest ocean steamers afloat, propelled by paddies and mounts fourteen guns, some of which are very heavy. The Dacotah is a sloop of war, propelled by a screw, and mounts seven guns. Should the Alabama encounter one or more of the squadron she would depend for safety on the relative speed of her pursuer, for Semmes would not fight his antagonist.


The expedition into North Carolina.

The United States steamer transport Oriole, Captain Holmes, from Hatteras Inlet, 2d November, arrived at New York Thursday. Letters by the arrival state that an expedition had left Newbern, North Carolina, about October 26th, by land and water, composed of about twelve thousand men and several gunboats. The expedition was in command of Gen. Foster. Its destination, is not stated.

We should not be surprised, says the Herald, to learn, by the next arrival from Newbern, that the Union forces above mentioned had captured Goldsborough — a point of the most strategic importance. It is the capital of Wayne county, and situated on the Reuse river, where it is crossed by the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, fifty miles Southeast of Raleigh. Steamboats of light draught can ascend the river for about two-thirds of the year. The place has (or had) a population of about three thousand.


A conversation with John Janney--Yankee construction of his Opinions — no hope of a return to the "glorious Union."

A correspondent of the New York Times, writing from Leesburg, Loudoun county, Va., gives a decidedly discouraging account of the ‘"Union"’ feeling there. So far from ‘"loyal"’ are the people that the writer thinks they are ‘"intensely and universally"’ secession in their feelings, though they have that kind of ‘"civility which well bred belligerents bear to each other."’ The correspondent gives an account of an interview with John Janney, the President of the Virginia Convention, which, barring the distortions of the Yankee, which are readily recognizable, is interesting:

Nothing and nobody in all Leesburg interested me but one white haired old Virginia gentleman, of whom history will have a word to say. I mean John Janney, the President of the Virginia Convention at Richmond that voted the State out of the Union, and whose home is in this town. In the Convention he constantly and persistently voted against every measure looking in any way whatever toward secession, though, as its President, he had to affix his name to a document which he considered the death-warrant and suicide of the State. Knowing that when he afterwards returned home, and the time for the popular vote came, he voted for secession, I was curious to know what influences had worked this interior change in a high and pure-souled nature.

Calling at his residence, I was received with cordiality by the tall, spare figure, with a noble white chevelure, whose every lineament, and the high, courtly, old-time manners, plainly showed the fine old Virginia gentleman. Mr. Janney is now about sixty-five, and has been of late months in feeble health. It was not difficult, presently, to carry the conversation from present affairs and give it a historical turn. It did not need his avowal to inform me that he had been all along an Old Line Henry Clay Whig, and that he had long kept himself aloof from practical politics; it was easy to see that, such as they have been North and South, they must have offended his honest temper. It was a little remarkable, therefore, that he should have been chosen the presiding officer of the Convention on the question of secession, and the choice of so conservative, Union-loving a man showed there was some moderation and virtue in the body. The Convention met, you will remember, in the middle of February of '61; and he laid great stress on the thoroughly Union sentiment that pervaded it during its earlier sessions. If a vote on the question had been taken any time during the month preceding the attack on Fort Sumter, three-fourths at least of all the voices would have been against the ordinance. When that event took place the Secession mercury on the instant leaped up in the barometer. The Union party in the Convention, however, still struggled on. They sent delegates to Washington — begging, imploring some assuring word, some basis of hope, some promise which they could present to their people. ‘"And Mr. S., I am bound to tell you we got discouragement rather than encouragement."’ Unable thus to get any rallying point the Union party was overslaughed by the Disunionists, and the secession was voted by a large majority, Mr. Janney, with some others, holding out to the last.

The Convention dissolved, the members went home, the popular vote — without whose ratification the action of the body was ‘"voice and nothing more"’ --was about to come on; but before the day arrived Mr. Lincoln bound Virginia with the blockade, and invaded her soil by marching troops into Alexandria! When the time for the popular vote came, John Janney gave for his voice for secession. The invasion, State-rights, and the old time traditions, had done their work. ‘"Sir, I am, a word, a Virginian — a citizen of a Commonwealth that had existed as a sovereign, organized Government, for two hundred years before the United States had a name,"’ Such, in a sentence, is the history of the lapse of thousands of the best and purest men of Virginia — men who are now the mainstay of the rebellion in the council and in the field. And certainly there could have been no condition of mind to the purposes of than they found in the principles, prejudices, and traditions of Virginians.

I thought, however, that I could detect a dawning consciousness in the mind of Mr. Janney, of how he, and conservative minded men like him, had been used by the South Carolina fire-eaters. I felt delicate at pressing him on there tender points, but the rebellion has obviously in his mind not a clean birth record. The secession of South Carolina and the Gulf States he regards as a gigantic crime — unprovoked, uncalled for, unauthorized, illegal, and diabolical. Next to this, he accounts the acceptance by the Washington Government of the attack on Fort Sumter as a challenge to war, followed by the calling out of 75,000 men, as a grand political blunder. He excoriates Mr. Buchanan--whom he looks upon as the weakest and meanest of all the tools ever used by a tyrannical faction — for not reinforcing Fort Sumter at a time when it could have been done without giving offence; but he also blames Mr. Lincoln for treating as a case for war an affair that statesmanship would have made a diplomatic transaction of. The lack of that same statesmanship now is, he thinks, our great trouble for he considers there is none of it on either side. ‘"Read the Constitution, and you will see that the office of the President is carved out for the limbs of a giant; and who have you there, and who have we? Sir. there were, in my day, giants in the land, and we have now only pigmies."’

I asked him whether, if the Confederate forces should be driven out of Virginia, and a new popular vote ordered, there would be a chance of the rescinding of the Ordinance of Secession, and the return of the State to the Union? ‘"None, none whatever. The wrongs, oppressions, and violences of the Washington Government have bee too great, the alienation of the people too intense, ever to make that possible."’ I asked him about the circumstances attending the popular vote, and whether, from the local terrorism, it could be considered a fair one; and I recalled to his mind Mr. Mason's declaration at the time, that if there was any man in Virginia not prepared to vote secession he should leave the State. So far as he knew, it was made with perfect fairness and freedom; as for Mr. Mason's speech, it was not the first or only foolish thing that person had said.--‘"But do you suppose that any Virginian voted against his conscience on account of such a declaration!"’ Do you not think that we should be together — that Union is desirable! ‘"Why, it is written on the very face of the geography,"’ (illustrating it by examples) ‘"Ah! if it were but all over, and things were as they used to be! But there is no hope; both parties will go on until each is utterly exhausted and ruined, and is ready to welcome peace and protection brought on by any ironhanded military despot. The experiment of Republican Constitutional Government — of liberty regulated by law — I consider a failure. There is not a shadow of Constitutional Government on either side."’

The President's emancipation proclamation he looks upon as the greatest political blunder possible, and he is curious to know what extraordinary pressure must have been brought to bear on him to issue it, after his declaration to the Chicago delegates. It will solidify, unite, and intensify all the hostilities, hatreds, and animosities of the South. ‘"But do these sentiments amount to much in the long run?"’ ‘"It is true that, in the long run, every people is governed by its conviction of its own interests."’ ‘ "But, difficult though reunion may at present seem, is not everything more easy than dissolution!"’ ‘"I confess I see nothing between Union and chaos; but how is it to be done? One thing I know, if my vision of how it can be settled were as clear as my desire is intense that it should be settled, the war would speedily be at an end."’


Position of affairs in Kentucky--Sympathizers with the Confederates ordered out of the State--Symptoms of Insubordination by a Kentucky Colonel.

A letter from Louisville, on the 30th ultimo, to the New York Times, says General Boyle has received an order ‘"to immediately arrest and send to Vicksburg, and forbid to return to Kentucky, all persons who have actively aided or abetted in the invasion of Kentucky by rebel troops. Loyalists demand that disloyalists, and treacherous neutrals, who profess to "take no part on either side of this unhappy controversy,' be dispatched to where they belong."’ The letter adds:

The army of the Ohio is reported at Bowing Green. Rosecrans and Buell are conferring at the Galt House. Buell's planning may be excellent, but Rosecrans is the man for executing. Rosecrans, with Buell's means and opportunities, would have destroyed the enemy's army at Perryville.--Buell's movements were controlled too much by ‘"fortuitous circumstances"’ to be entirely and decisively successful. Our confidence in Gen. Buell has been greatly shaken.

Col. McHenry, of the 17th Kentucky, near Newmarket, orders all fugitive slaves to leave his regiment within two weeks from the 27th. ‘"Any fugitive slave within the limits of this regiment will be delivered to his owner or agent appointed, upon application, whether the owner be loyal or a rebel."’ The question is raised whether this order is authorized, legitimate, in subordination to the laws of the land.

The State Blind Asylum, Masonic Hall, other public buildings, and the mansions of resident rebels, are being taken for hospital and other military uses. Two thousand two hundred wounded and sick soldiers arrived yesterday. About 5,000 are now in the hospitals, besides 1,200 convalescents about to he sent to their regiments. About 160 disabled soldiers were dismissed since the 20th.

Since January 1, 97 desertions took place from Col. Maxwell's 26th Kentucky. Bragg, while retreating, lost hundreds by desertions.


Yellow Jack at work among the Federal.

The death of General O. M. Mitchell, of yellow fever, at Beaufort, S. C., has been published. The disease is also raging at Port Royal, S. C. A correspondent of a New York paper, writing from that place on the 1st instant says:

‘ The dread pestilence seems to have confined itself to the worst vicinity of the headquarters where its immediate ravages were made. Officers, upon Gen. Mitchell's Staff, and those immediately surrounding him, were the first attacked. The death of Capt. L. A. Warfield, which I mentioned in my last letter, was followed by that of Capt. J. C. Williams, Aide-de-camp to Gen. Mitchell.--These two cases were followed by the illness of General Mitchell's two sons, both upon his staff, and Captain J. J. Elwell, Assistant-Quartermaster, and then the disease spread so rapidly as to create great alarm and anxiety. The disease appeared to be so confined to that one spot — head quarters — that Gen. Mitchell removed to Beaufort, but, unfortunately, too late. The seeds of the fatal malady had been sown here, which soon carried him away. On Thursday morning, Col. N. W. Brown, of the Third Rhode Island Artillery, died from fever, and upon the evening of the same day the intelligence was telegraphed from Beaufort that Gen. Mitchell was dead. His death cast a gloom over all, not only because of the loss of such a man, who had secured the love and esteem of all here, but our dismal forebodings were realized, and his death seemed to verity the conclusions which had been forced upon us, that when this monster attacked, there was no hope.

General O. M. Mitchell is regretted by all. In the short period that he was here he managed to win the love and confidence of his whole command. His benevolent projects for benefitting the negro, and his eminently practical course in regard to them here, will cause his memory to be cherished by every Christian. In his death our country has lost an able General, astronomy and science one of their most gifted sons. His remains were deposited in the graveyard of the old Episcopal Church at Beaufort yesterday at 12 o'clock. The funeral was attended by Gens. Brennan and Saxton, Admiral Dupont, and Capt. Rogers, together with numerous other prominent officers of the army and navy.


The New York press on the Regent elections.

The World construes the recent result in New York as follows:

‘ She thunders out her demand for a more vigorous prosecution of the war, and warns the President of the Union, in which she is the chiefest State, that the Constitution and the laws, and our liberties, must be sacredly upheld and guarded by their chosen custodians, or else come anarchy and night.

’ The Times calls on Lincoln to gird up his loins for more desperate efforts yet. It thinks:

‘ While an adverse vote may be received as a rebuke, it can never relax the efforts of a ruler fit for his place to save his imperiled country. The vote in this State, as in Pennsylvania and the West, indicates a profound dissatisfaction with the method of the Administration in carrying on this war — and a peremptory demand for the adoption of one better adapted to the awful emergencies of the case. The President must not hesitate an hour to respond to this demand.

’ The Post says:

‘ Let the authorities at Washington be rebuked significantly, it was said on all sides, and they will do better for the future.

We trust they will; we trust the incidents of the day have impressed upon their minds two solemn and important lessons; First, that war, when it has been once undertaken, is to be fought as war, according to war principles, and not as politics, according to the interests of localities or classes, or the schemes of wily intriguers and managers.

The second lesson taught is that the rights of peaceful and loyal citizens — the acknowledged guaranties of civil liberty — are not to be trifled with, or handled in an arbitrary manner.

’ The Express, whose editor, James Brooks, was elected to Congress ‘"on the hurrah."’ thinks:

‘ It means a just and Constitutional war, conducted according to the forms of civilization, to put down the rebellion and to restore the Union. It is not a war for emancipating negroes, nor for abolishing State rights, nor for exterminating or subjugating any portion of the American people, but it is a war for bringing enemies in arms under the authority of the Federal Government, and for the supremacy of the national au, thority, under the old flag and Constitution, over all the States of the Union--a State for every star and a star for every State.

Greeley, in the Tribune, explains the cause of the disaster thus:

Never was a great and patriotic party doomed to bear up against such a combination of adverse influences as those with which the Republicans and Union War Democrats struggled in our contest of yesterday. They were compelled to meet at the polls--

  1. 1. Every partisan of slavery and sympathizer with the slaveholders' rebellion.
  2. 2. The great rum-selling interest, organized as a political power, and lavishing funds as well as efforts in behalf of the Democratic ticket.
  3. 3. Two hundred thousand voters who ‘"never voted any other than the Democratic ticket, and never will,"’ though the ticket were all made up of Fernando and Ben Woods, and undisguisedly favorable to revolutionary usurpation and despotism.
  4. 4. Thousands whose god is Mammon and who, finding the war expensive and burdensome, are anxious for peace at any price.
  5. 5. Every coward who fears being drafted.
  6. 6. Every sneak who has been told that Seymour's election will relive him from the payment of war taxes, and is actually feel enough to believe it.
  7. 7. The depressing effect of the recent elections and their unexpected adverse results.
  8. 8. The absence at the seat of war of at least one hundred thousand of our bravest and best, two thirds of them ardent Republicans, and a good share of the remainder Union War Democrats of the school of Dickinson, Bener and Tremaine.
  9. 9. General dissatisfaction with the slow progress, or no progress of our armies, and a widespread feeling that, through the incapacity, inefficiency, or insincerity of our military leaders, the blood and treasure of the loyal millions are being sacrificed in vain.

The attempted exchange of prisoners — the position of Mr. Wood.

The arrival of Lieut. Col. W. H. Ludlow in Richmond, for the purpose of arranging for the exchange of State prisoners, has been noticed. The Fortress Monroe correspondent of the New York Herald, gives the following history of the acts of his predecessor, Mr. Wood, and the steps that have been taken from time to time in this matter of exchange:

Wood, late Jailor of the Capitol prison at Washington, whom Gen. Wadsworth appointed as Commissioner to hunt up stray Union prisoners confined in Southern, dungeons, has apparently made himself obnoxious, not only to the rebel authorities, but also to the War Department at Washington. On his passes he has been allowed to travel South, but in many instances he has exceeded his instructions. The Secretary of War expresses his disapprobation of Mr. Wood in the following telegraphic dispatch to Lieutenant Colonel William H. Ludlow:

Washington, Oct. 27, 1862.
To Lieut. Col W. H. Ludlow:
The Secretary of War desires me to say that the acts of Mr. Wood, in reference to the exchange of prisoners, will not be recognised, and you will so inform Mr. Onla. Adopt what measures may be necessary for the return of Mr. Wood to this city.

L.Thomas, Adj't Gen'l
In accordance with the above instructions, Col. Ludlow has ordered Mr. Wood to return; and he will probably return on board of the Metamora, which proceeds to Aikin's Landing this morning with a number of released rebel prisoners.

In July General Thomas was appointed commissioner for the exchange of prisoners under the cartel arranged by General Dix, on the part of the U. States, and Howell Cobb, on the part of the rebels. But owing to the multifarious duties of General Thomas he could not give his undivided attention to this subject, and Brig. Gen. Stoneman having been detached as chief of cavalry from General McClellan's staff, ordered to act in his stead. On the death of Gen. Kearney, however, Gen. Stoneman was appointed to a superior command, and since that time Colonel Ludlow has acted as commissioner, to the satisfaction of all concerned. Col. Ludlow, being an eminent jurist, did not allow the rebels to gain any advantage over him, and confined them strictly to the provisions of the cartel. Mr. Wood, however, if not entirely ignoring the mutual exchange system, acted solely on the instructions of Gen. Wadsworth, and in this way made ‘"confusion worse confounded."’ Col. Ludlow will proceed to Alkin's Landing in a few days, and settle the entire exchange with Mr. Ould, as far as relates to those prisoners already liberated.


Miscellaneous.

Accounts from the Kanawha region state that Gen. Cox had continued his advance. The rebels had not injured the salt works, or destroyed the stock on hand. There were thirty-three inches water in the river Sunday morning, and as soon as slight obstructions could be removed from the channel at one point, boats, loaded with salt; would leave for the Ohio river. Our informant states that the rebels had eaten the country bare of provisions; and Jenkins's cavalry horses had consumed all the corn in the valley. Everything in the stores that the rebels had any use for was ‘"purchased,"’ payment being made in Confederate scrip.

Telegraphic messages were Thursday afternoon passed direct between New York and San Francisco without repetition. The distance is 3,500 miles, the longest electric circuit ever worked.

Judge McCunn, of New York, has decided that, according to the act of Congress of 1833, no person who has been convicted of a criminal offence can be enlisted into the armies of the United States.

Mrs. McClellan has closed her house in Washington city, and on Thursday, it is stated, proceeded to join her husband at the headquarters of the army.

A letter to the Pittsburg Chronicle, dated Lebanon, October 24, says:

‘ "The list of killed and wounded will be over 3,000 for the battle of Chaplin Hills"

’ The New York underwriters have added the letters ‘"C"’ and ‘ "B"’ to their loss list, meaning captured and burned.

Gen. Andrew Porter has been assigned to the command in Pennsylvania

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