SUNDAY
JANUARY 18, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

The Advance of the French.

By the arrival of the Columbia we have Havana papers to the 11th inst. The British steamer Ossian arrived at Havana on the 9th, bringing Vera Cruz dates to the 3d inst. We translate from Diario the following letter from Vera Cruz, dated 3d inst.:

The French forces are distributed as follows: In the district comprising San Augustin del Palmar, San Andreas de Chalchicomula and Orizaba, from 7000 to 8000 men. In Perote and Las Vigas, 8000, independent of about 1000 commanded by Marques, which are encamped in the neighborhood of the latter place. The forces which occupied Tlacotalpan and Alvarado have been removed from there.

The remnant of the 28,000 men, composing the expeditionary corps, is employed in conveying trains, guarding posts, hospitals and stores. By the steamer which left in December, reinforcements were called for, and they are expected to arrive at Vera Cruz by the 1st of February, by which time the railroad to Orizaba, now in course of completion, will be ready to transport the troops into the interior. The reinforcements will consist of two divisions of the Imperial Guard. It is calculated that they will compose the effective force of 15,000, which are destined for the attack on Puebla.

The Mexican forces are distributed as follows: at Puebla 25,000 regulars and 10,000 volunteers. Between that city and Mexico, there are two divisions, destined to cover a retreat from, or to reinforce Puebla, as the case may be; they form a body of 12,000 men. The city of Mexico is defended by 12,000 men and Queretaro by 8000; with 14,000 men in the State of Guerrero as a reserve, commanded by Alvarez. The Mexicans, although more numerous than the French, still labor under great disadvantages. The scarcity of provisions to supply their vast numbers seems to be their greatest misfortune. Puebla is defended by ten bastions, mounting, in all, 200 guns. The capital is fortified in the same manner.

Most of the French artillery is between Jalapa and Las Vigas.

The authorities in Vera Cruz have established a lazaretto, in consequence of the appearance of the small-pox.

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Cricket.—The cricket match between the New Orleans Eleven and the Rinalde Eleven, previously noticed, resulted in a tie. The third game, played during the present week, was won by the New Orleans Eleven with three wickets to go down.

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Mutilation.—Two men got into a fight yesterday on Julia street, one being named McClosky and the other Kane. During the progress of the contest they got into extremely close quarters, when Kane’s nether lip was entirely bitten off by his opponent. Kane went to the Charity Hospital, carrying his lip in his hand. He did not wish to have McClosky arrested.

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Investing in Confederate Bonds.—The Richmond Enquirer says:

An English gentleman, now in this country on a collecting tour for one of the largest English hardware establishments, of which he is a partner, has collected upwards of a million dollars in Confederate 8 per cent bonds at par, which he says will now sell readily in England at 75 or 80 cents on the dollar, and eh day the Confederacy is recognized as a nation, they will go up to 125 or 150. Many large houses, he says, have hundreds of thousands of dollars of these bonds, and consider them a splendid investment.

The Rear of Banks’ Expedition.—We learn that the men assigned to Banks’ expedition still waiting the transports fitting out at this city, are becoming quite restless under their long detention. Many of them are nine months men, and when it is considered that three months of their enlistment have passed away already, and that even should they sail at once another month might be consumed in reaching their destination, (the supply of steamers being inadequate), it is not surprising that they should begin to feel dispirited, and some of them go into the hospital for treatment.—N.Y. Journal of Commerce, 5th inst.

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The Army of the Potomac—Winter Operations.—The Army correspondent of the Baltimore American, in a late letter from Falmouth, writes:

The Army of the Potomac is not going into winter quarters. Though operations in front may be abandoned, the troops are not to remain cooped up in winter huts through the long weeks which intervene between now and March. A portion of the soldiers may be sent to Washington to prevent a backward movement of the enemy in that direction, while the remainder are shipped southward, to commence operations anew on the Peninsula. Perhaps it may appear best to our Generals to cross the Rappahannock further down—say Port Conway—under the protection of our gunboats, and again give battle to the enemy. Should we desire to do so, it would be as a General remarked to me to-day, almost impossible to winter this army in this locality, owing to the scarcity of wood. The circuit of country now occupied by us, in addition of being limited, and producing a stunted growth of timber, has been pretty effectually invaded by rebel wood choppers, who have heretofore congregated in this vicinity. Owing to the sandy formation of the soil, the roads soon dry up after the heaviest storms, so that the elements, however unfavorable they may be, will hardly prevent our locomotion.

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Terrible Havoc.—The army correspondent of the New York Tribune says:

Of course, as the events of the terrible battle of Fredericksburg are canvassed, hundreds of instances come to light of individual gallantry, daring and coolness. Col. Burns’ regiment of the Irish brigade went into the fight with about 700 men, and came out with 150. One after another the standard bearers were shot down until twenty men had been killed at the duty, and the colors were torn to rags by the storm of fire through which they were so gallantly borne. Seven different times did the Colonel himself seize the colors from the ground, and hand them to the nearest man. And at the last, after even all this, the colors were lost, after 500 men had fallen in their defence. After the battle, it is said the Colonel sat down and wept bitter tears.

MONDAY
JANUARY 19, 1863
THE DAILY RICHMOND EXAMINER (VA)

The Situation in Tennessee.

There is a lull of battle in Tennessee since the great fight at Murfreesboro. Neither army seems to be in a condition to renew the conflict. Our latest Tennessee paper—the Chattanooga Rebel of last Tuesday—says of the situation:

The Yankees are as dumb as door-posts. The troops which fought the great battle are fearfully cut up, and intelligent parties from the front state that Rosencrans cannot advance for some weeks to come. On Sunday morning our cavalry dashed down the Manchester and Shelbyville pike towards Murfreesboro. They found a party of the enemy on picket duty at Stone’s river bridge, two miles this side on the latter road, and at the first toll-gate on the former. As they approached the enemy fired and fell back rapidly, leaving several “tokens” of our volley behind them. The party of reconnoissance then withdrew.

Colonel Richardson, with his regiment of Partisan Rangers, dashed into Memphis on the 25th ultimo, pulled down the Lincoln flag, and placed the Confederate flag in its stead, drove out three hundred head of cattle, captured several prisoners, and protected the streets so as to enable the citizens to take out an immense quantity of salt and other articles. The Lincoln forces, which amounted to two regiments, immediately ran to their fortifications, leaving the heart of the city almost entirely unprotected, enabling our little squad to do as they pleased.

Jeff Thompson is at Madrid Bend; that place, Island No. 10, and Hickman, have been evacuated by the Lincolnites, and our cavalry forces are doing good service at these points.

Captain Reynolds of the 21st Mississippi Regiment, who lives near Memphis, and has been there for the last five or six weeks, asserts the above to be substantially true.

Captain Reynolds also informs us that Colonel Blythe, of another partisan regiment, was in the neighborhood of Coldwater Depot—that he had informed General Grant that he had twenty prisoners whom he would hold as hostages, and in the future he would burn one prisoner for every house that was burned by his men in Memphis. Since that correspondence was had no houses have been burned in the city.

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A Battle Imminent.—Judging from the crowd of officers around the hotels and on the public streets, a battle is to come off soon. We don’t know whether it will be in the East or in the West, but we cannot overlook the grand sign of a fight somewhere, by the rushing of officers to Richmond. They fill our hotels just now like bees at swarming time, and can be met with on all the thoroughfares. There is a fight imminent somewhere.

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Catching Conscripts.—At each gate of the Capitol Square a conscript hopper is fixed, into which falls every subject of the act. God looks, and good clothing, and the absence of every thing militaire, will not save the passerby, and the demand for “papers” was never so imperative as at present. The enforcement of the conscript law to its letter would rid this community of the dregs that infest society in Richmond, and add to the public service.

The Virginia Legislature.
A Monument to Virginia Women.

Mr. Whittle, of Pittsylvania, introduced a joint resolution eulogistic of the women of this revolution, and especially the women of Virginia, her devotion, sacrifices and heroism, and recommending the preservation by documentary evidence, instances of the barbarity of our foe, and at the close of the war, a monument to be erected, perpetuating to coming ages her unexampled virtues displayed in communion with the men of the times.

Mr. Thompson, of Dinwiddie, in a few remarks, endorsed all contained in the resolution, and moved that the rules be suspended to put the resolution upon its passage, which being done, the resolution was unanimously adopted.

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From Our Army in the West.

Tullahoma, January 16.—It appears from the enemy’s accounts of the battle of Murfreesboro that Breckenridge’s division, of General Hardee’s corps, in the action of the 2d, encountered, in addition to the force immediately assailed, the force of the enemy’s batteries massed in numbers of one hundred guns, also the greater part of their infantry massed at the same point. The assault was made under positive orders, and, whether issued wisely or not, was bravely executed. The position was carried in the very jaws of the appalling fire of the enemy, and was held for half an hour before General Breckenridge was forced to fall back in the face of overpowering numbers.

The enemy occupies his original position before Murfreesboro, and is reported to be about forty thousand strong. They are repairing the roads, but making no preparations for an advance. They were reported as suffering from the scarcity of provisions.

It is bitter cold here and a snow storm prevails. But under all this the spirit of our army is not dampened.

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 “I’m an Officer.”—While the enrolling agent is engaged in catching the poor conscript, we beg of him not to overlook the fine officer, who with three bars or stars on his collar, puts aside the bayonet of the guard with “I’m an officer,” and passes on. There is at least a regiment of them in Richmond at this time.

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The Enemy Preparing to Cross the River.—Fredericksburg, January 18.—The demonstrations of the enemy on their right and left wings, as well as in their center, indicate that an early attempt will be made to cross the river simultaneously above and below the town. An attack may be expected, it is believed, at any time.

TUESDAY
JANUARY 20 1863
LOWELL DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA)

State Almshouse.—We are indebted to Thomas J. Marsh, Esq., superintendent of the State Almshouse at Tewksbury, for the ninth annual report of the Inspectors, embracing a full exhibit of the working of the institution for the year ending Sept. 30, 1862. The inspectors refer in terms of high commendation to the general management of the institution, and the reports of the superintendent and his associates certainly exhibit evidence of wisdom, efficiency and economy in the conduct of affairs, both internally and externally. The whole number supported during the year has been 2920, and the weekly average, 913—the largest ever known—and of this number only 132 have died, being 87 less than the previous year. The number in the almshouse at the commencement of the year was 974; admitted during the year, 1946; discharged, 2144; supported, 2920; births, 57; died, 132; number of children who had been provided with homes, 88; weekly average, 913; present number, 776. Notwithstanding the average weekly number in the house was larger than in the preceding year, there has been a handsome reduction, both in the cost of support and in the current expenses. This saving is in part owing to the increased productiveness of the farm, which now contributes largely toward the support of the almshouse,

Rev. J. M. Burtt continues as chaplain of the institution, and Dr. Brown presides over the hospital department, as he has done from the beginning. The policy of putting out children, many of whom are orphans, to suitable persons as they attain sufficient age, has been continued, and in this way good and permanent homes have been provided, where they will be trained to useful pursuits.

Massachusetts has two state almshouses besides that at Tewksbury: one at Monson, the other in Bridgewater. They are all conducted upon the same system.

The Governor, in his address, observes that the number of persons supported in the state almshouses and Rainsford Island Hospital was less in 1862 than it was in any but one of the last five years, and was 17½ per cent less than it was in 1861. Another interesting fact is that the expense of these institutions was less in 1862 than in any year but one since they were opened, being $122, 783, which is $12,220 less than their expenses in 1861.

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Several small boys in Clinton, Ill., from eight to fourteen years of age, have organized a company to cut and split wood for the wives and families of volunteers. They parade the street with fife and drum, visiting and working for needy widows, one-half of them working while the other half rest, until an ample supply of wood is ready for the stove.

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 The Massachusetts Indians.—The remaining Indians, few and feeble, remind us of their existence every year by the reports of their guardians to the governor of the state. There were paid last year to and in behalf of the Mashpee Indians $1458; to Chippequiddie and Christiantown Indians $397; to the Dudley Indians $756; to the Troy Indians $779; to the Natick Indians $80—a total of $4937. Most of the expenditures were for the supply of the physical wants of the Indians, but in the Mashpee district a missionary and schools are maintained with good success.

 War Matters.—Private letters received from the army on the Rappahannock speak of the soldiers being ordered to provide ten days’ rations, which would seem to mean something more than a reconnoissance.

Gen. Halleck has issued an order, which may be regarded as retaliatory, that no rebel officer shall be released until further notice.

Two more of Gen. Banks’ transports are reported ashore on the Florida coast—the ship Lucinda, with troops and horses on board, which was subsequently got off, and the ship Sparkling Sea, with the 25th N. Y. battery on board, which would probably be entirely wrecked. She went ashore on Ajax Reef, near Carysfort light house. The troops were all saved, and all the horses which had survived the passage.

The following from the army of General Rosencrans, appears in the Chicago Tribune of Friday:

“The army is gradually extending its lines in the direction of the enemy, though no movement of importance will likely be made or some days.

“The rebels are scouting round in every direction. Squads of their army yesterday came within three miles of our lines.

“The rebel Gen. Wheeler, with 2500 cavalry and three guns, is known to have passed up to our left, within forty-eight hours. His declared object is to capture and destroy our wagon trains.”

Gen. Banks is looking after the levees protecting New Orleans. An order was issued on the 7th as follows:

“All planters and corporations within this parish, left bank, are hereby notified that all needed repairs on the levee in front of their plantations or corporate limits, must be commenced at once, and finished within fifteen days from the date of this notice. The syndic of the parish will see that this order is executed, and any parties failing to comply with the same will be punished according to military law.”

The United States gunboat Saginaw reports the capture on the 5th inst., at Jupiter Inlet, Florida, of the English sloop Avenger, of Nassau, with an assorted cargo of salt, coffee, gin and dry goods; also of the English sloop Julia, of Nassau, on the 8th inst., with salt.

The United States sloop Ariel reports the capture of the sloop Good Luck, on the 6th inst., off the Florida Capes, loaded with turpentine and cotton.

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 The War of 1812.—It was two years after the declaration before the war was prosecuted with vigor. Then Jacob Brown and Andrew Jackson, and young Scott, with his double regiment, appeared upon the field. Chippewa, Niagara and New Orleans followed, and the war closed in glory. The navy signalized itself against the bulwarks of Old England, and if it gets a chance, will do it again. Such is democracy in war: weak in the beginning, strong in the end. Be patient, then, and every cloud which lowers upon our house, will disappear before the coming sun, unless God has decreed our downfall.—Cor. New York Times.

WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 21, 1863
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

From Charleston.
A Mutiny in Fort Sumter.

A letter from Port Royal, December 30th, says the gunboat Marblehead, from the blockade of Charleston, reports that six deserters from Fort Sumter reached the Canandaigua in a foggy night. They report that a third of the garrison in Fort Sumter had avowed an intention of no longer fighting under the confederate flag, whereupon nearly all the garrison threw down their arms; that they were half-famished, and that their families were in want, owing to non-payment for several months. An arrival of other troops overawed the mutineers and forced them to return to their duties. A large number of prominent ones, however, were in confinement, and would possibly be shot. Their friends say if this is done they’ll avenge their deaths. Dissatisfaction among the rebel troops is wide spread throughout the department. The men worked day and night, are half starved, receive no money and live under the iron rule of a despot. Scarcely a day passes without desertions.

The gunboat Wissahickon recently drove the rebels out of a battery at Branch Island; presently they returned with a party of cavalry, forcing them back to their guns. They again opened fire, and the Wissahickon received a shot in her hull which nearly sunk her. She came to Port Royal for repairs.

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The Potomac Flotilla.
Capture of a Rebel Coaster.

The navy department has received dispatches from Com. Harwood, commanding the Potomac flotilla, dated the 19th, stating that the Leslie arrived at Hampton roads Sunday, with the schooner Hampton of Baltimore, in tow, which was captured by the Currituck on the morning of the 13th, in Dividing Creek. The commodore states that the vessel cleared light, ostensibly for the oyster trade, but took in her cargo at Baltimore. She had on board several passengers, who, from letters found on board, appeared to be persons who had been in the habit of passing to and from Virginia. At the time of the capture of the Hampton, a canoe at the same place escaped, but was afterwards taken at Indian Creek—not, however, until her crew had escaped to the woods, and the principal part of her cargo, it is supposed, had been thrown overboard.

Commodore Harwood also reports that before these occurrences the Currituck broke up for the present an establishment for supplying salt to Richmond, by destroying the kettles used in its manufacture. It appears from the report of Acting Master Linnekin, commanding the Currituck, that when he arrived at Dividing Creek, he was informed by a Negro that at Southwest branch there was a large manufactory of salt and a steam mill owned by a man named Oscar Sealey, who had been extensively engaged in supplying the rebels with salt. The commander of the Currituck proceeded thither, sent a party on shore and destroyed all the kettles, &c., with the exception of the boiler, and sent word to the proprietor to discontinue the occupation under penalty of the complete destruction of the mill and a large amount of lumber contiguous. Dividing Creek is one of the points to which George N. Saunders advised his correspondents to make shipments.

The Negro to Fight on Both Sides.—Notwithstanding Jeff Davis’ well affected horror of “the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man,” there is good evidence that the rebels themselves have been the first to use the Negroes as soldiers, and if they dare trust them with arms they may yet have a larger black army than the government. As yet they have only employed the Negroes as artillerists. Negro slaves worked a portion of the batteries at Vicksburg, by which our assailing columns were so savagely mown down, and Negro slaves stand behind the batteries of Port Hudson, and yet the rebel chief lifts his hands in holy horror and calls upon the civilized world to go into spasms of moral indignation because the government proposes to employ Negroes on the right side. As to the use of Negroes in the southern forts, a recent letter from an officer of the Banks expedition at Baton Rouge says:

“The fortifications at Port Hudson are said to be very strong, the heavy artillery guns of monstrous size, and are worked entirely by Negroes, who, it is now fully admitted, make the best soldiers in the world for heavy artillery service, being very muscular men. The sound of the cannon does not affect their brain, and they can endure fatigue much better than white men, and seem to be perfectly in their element while working the heavy guns within the fortifications. Our own government are beginning to realize this fact, and forts Jackson and St. Phillip are now being manned by Negroes. There are about 3000 of them, thoroughly drilled in ground movements as infantry, without arms, by Gen. Phelps, who fully realized what he must come to in regard to employing Negroes as soldiers. Gen. Butler could not comprehend this fact, and the result was that Gen. Phelps resigned and went home. Gen. Butler changed entirely his opinion, armed these very men that Gen. Phelps had trained and disciplined, and it is fully admitted that we have no troops that are under better discipline, and who take so good care of their arms or better care of themselves. These are the very men who are now being sent to Forts Jackson and elsewhere. I saw yesterday a company of some seventy-five, who had been selected within the last eighteen days by Gen. Sherman’s orderly, and were being drilled by him, and they really showed great proficiency in company movements. This company is to be filled up to its maximum, 156, and is to work the heavy guns on a fortification.”

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From Fortress Monroe.
The Vanderbilt Going After the Alabama Again.

A Fortress Monroe letter of the 18th says the Vanderbilt was being rapidly coaled and would leave in a day or two in search of the Alabama. She left Fayal December 31, leaving in port the American clipper ship Typhoon, Capt. Saiter, from Calcutta for Cork, which had put in in distress. The Typhoon arrived at Fayal December 24, having lost six of her men, including the chief mate, by over exertion. The brig Newsboy was also at Fayal. She was to leave on the 2d inst. for Boston.

THURSDAY
JANUARY 22, 1863
THE VERMONT PHŒNIX

The New Atlantic Telegraph.

On the 5th inst., Cyrus W. Field arrived in this city by the steamer Asia from Europe, he having visited England for the purpose of furthering measures respecting another effort to lay a new telegraphic cable in the Atlantic. On the day before the Asia sailed, a large meeting was held at Liverpool, presided over by Mr. Wm. Brown; and Mr. Field explained the condition of the Atlantic Telegraph Company and its prospects. Speeches, hopeful in tone, were also made by Mr. Brown, Mr. Bushell and other gentlemen, and resolutions were adopted expressing faith in the ultimate success of the undertaking and pledging the meeting (individually and collectively) to do all in its power to bring about that success. An extraordinary meeting of the Atlantic Telegraph Company was held in London on the first week of December last, at which the Hon. Stuart Wortley presided. He stated that the accidents which had hitherto occurred to submarine cables had invariably taken place in shallow water. There had not been a cent expended for repairs upon any of the telegraphic lines that had been laid in deep water. The whole of the new Atlantic cable, except the shore ends near the Irish and Newfoundland coasts, would be in deep water, and little danger of injury was to be apprehended, if a god cable was properly laid. Mr. Wortley condemned the manner in which the first Atlantic cable was constructed and laid. He said he was in possession of certain facts which accounted satisfactorily for the failure of that cable. It was illy constructed, hastily laid, and unfit to be laid down into the bottom of the sea. The capital required for the next cable was £600,000 (about $3,000,000), and it was proposed to raise it by the issuing of five pound shares. If the cable was successful, the British Government would guarantee eight per cent to the shareholders. About one-sixth of the capital required has already been subscribed, and it is believed the whole amount will be raised before the month of May. It should not be forgotten that President Lincoln in his message said: “I have favored the project for connecting the United States with Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the telegraph from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the wire which is being extended to the Russian empire. Our continent is now belted with the electric wire, and it is not too much to hope for, that a cable may be laid in the Atlantic and another in the Pacific before this year closes, thus encircling the globe with a telegraphic highway.”—Scientific American.

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A Trojan Horse.—General Sumner dispatched twenty-five dragoons on a foraging expedition to Falmouth. They had not proceeded beyond our lines, when a guerrilla band captured both wagons and teamsters. As soon as word came to headquarters of the division, General Sumner ordered ten wagons to be filled with armed soldiers and to proceed to the same place where the rebels had carried off their booty and to lie concealed in the bottom of the wagons. The ruse was successful. The guerrillas, some forty in number, came upon the party, dismounted, and proceeded to capture, as they supposed, a fresh supply of horses and wagons, when our soldiers concealed as in the Trojan horse, came out and captured every rebel and horse, and soon returned to camp with the enemy, and every prisoner, horse, and wagon which had a few hours before been taken from us. The incident created quite an amusing sensation.

The Banks Expedition Transports.

The report of the Select Committee of the Senate upon the chartering of vessels for the Banks expedition finds that the sailing vessels belonging to the expedition were of good quality, and were chartered at fair rates; but a portion of the steamers were unsuited to the voyage on which they were bound, and that the price for all of them, although not above usual government rates, were larger than private parties would have paid.

The unsuitableness of the vessels is explained by the circumstance that Commodore Vanderbilt, who alone knew the destination of the expedition, considered it his duty simply to find and hire transports, leaving the inquiry as to seaworthiness to Commodore Van Brunt, who had no knowledge of the destination. The largeness of the price is attributed, in a considerable degree, to the vicious practice of employing middlemen between the agents of the government and the shipowners, instead of leaving the market open to competition.

The Committee give considerable attention to the case of the Niagara, and censure her owners severely. While not entirely exonerating Commodore Vanderbilt from blame, they express confidence in his rectitude, but say that T. G. Southard, employed as an assistant by Commodore Vanderbilt, and agreeing to work like him, gratuitously, received commissions from the owners varying from 5 to 6¼ per cent from the charter parties.

The Committee reprehend this practice of receiving commissions severely, and recommend that Southard be required to refund. The Committee censure the Government for not availing itself of the law allowing naval officers to be detailed for the purpose of inspecting transports in the service of the Navy Department. Incidentally the Committee intimate that in the case of other expeditions the Government is even more blameable.

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“Is it not astonishing,” said a wealthy individual, “that a large fortune was left me by a person who had only seen me once?” “It would have been still more astonishing, “said a wag, “if he had left it to you after seeing you twice.”

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Our able representative in Congress, Mr. Morrill, is making an effort to get the old hall of the House devoted to statuary. His proposition is, and he has introduced a resolution to that effect, to authorize the president “to invite each and all of the states to provide and furnish marble or bronze statues, not exceeding two in number for each state, of men who have been citizens thereof, illustrious from their historic renown, or from distinguished civil or military services, such as each state shall determine to be worthy of this national commemoration.”—Standard.

FRIDAY
JANUARY 23, 1863
THE LIBERATOR (MA)

Pluck.

When Richard Cobden visited this country the last time, he is reported to have said, in speaking of our politics, “What the Republican party lacks is pluck.” That sagacious observer never made a truer remark. When the history of this war is written, that will be a most profitable chapter which contrasts the striking characteristics of the two great parties which illustrate the conflict. Perhaps no key will be found so sure as this to unlock the mystery of the North’s ill success in crushing the rebellion, spite of the immense physical and pecuniary advantages preponderating in its favor.

Aside from the points at issue between the Democratic and Republican parties, (we speak of them in the past,) there was an inherent difference in their natures. The Democratic party, whose guidance was always intrusted to the South, and whose object was to gain by political means what the traitors-in-arms hope to gain by bullets--the perpetuation and spread of slavery--the Democratic party walked with a firm tread that shook the continent. Never forgetting its hellish mission, unswerving in its course, never consenting to compromise unless the profits of the bargain were all its own, audacious, defiant, it stands typified as the incarnation of relentless purpose. The sword of Nemesis was not quicker or surer than its punishment to the Democrat who murmured at its fiat. Wealth, talents, positions availed him nothing. If he dared to breathe an anti-slavery word, political influence forsook him, and the doors of office closed in his face. The Pope’s bull could not blast a heretic more effectively.

Though Democracy was peremptory with its enemies, it ever remembered and rewarded its friends. To be sure, it never refused to use men of any party whose servility rendered them pliant tools; but when was it known to let them grasp the expected wages? When their usefulness to slavery ceased, like Webster, they were cast contemptuously aside, to die broken hearted, with the remorse of Wolsey troubling their last hours--“Had I served my God with half the zeal that I have served Oppression, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs.”

Mankind like firmness and pluck. In spite of the wicked foundation upon which Democracy stood, there was something attractive in its mien. Unthinking men looked with such admiration upon its confident front, which always wore the prestige of success, that they did not notice its fatal footing.

The picture of the Republican party is different. Founded upon a partial justice, its purpose was a partial one. Compromise presided at its birth. Its originators were men convinced of the interest of slavery, yet lacking the faith to nail their convictions to the mast head. Expediency, not principle, was its motto. Mazy and circumlocutory has been its progress. Year after year, its platform was lowered and its resolutions weakened to catch more voters. Its infirmity of purpose, and its search for candidates whom availability ad not fidelity recommended, lost it the respect of earnest men.

When it achieved success, it squandered the fruits. Banks’ election as Speaker of the house is an illustration. The Republicans boasted that he gave the Democrats an equal, if not a better, share of the Committee appointments than he did his friends. Such blundering folly was not magnanimity, but weakness, and the Democrats, while gladly accepting the gifts, despised the giver.

The main part of the Democratic party nominated Breckenridge because of his tested fidelity to slavery. The Republicans set aside their tried leaders, ignored Sumner, Giddings, Hale, and Wade, and selected Abraham Lincoln, because of his negative qualifications. He was neither anti-slavery nor pro-slavery, hot nor cold.

No question that he fitly represented the entire party, that he embodied in his single person its virtues and failings. But to conquer a gigantic rebellion whose leaders and armies fight with intensest earnestness, there is wanting something more than Republican irresolution and paltering.

Lincoln, by his nature and education, is no equal for a man like Davis. When war was inevitable, the latter bent himself to his work with Democratic directness and celerity. He appointed no Republican  generals to lead his armies, neither did he call the Border Free State men to his councils. On the contrary, he made clean work--hung, imprisoned and exiled whoever dared say a word for the Union. >

What has Lincoln done to crush treason? Appointed men to control his armies whose loyalty was not above suspicion--men whose hatred of Abolitionists exceeded their hatred of traitors; sought advisers from States kept in the Union only by the compulsion of Northern bayonets claiming loyalty, yet with hearts yearning for Richmond; allowed the tribune and Evening Post to be virtually excluded from the army, and Bennett’s treasonable Herald to go everywhere; tolerated traitors in every department of the government; counteracted every General who fought with anti-slavery energy and thoroughness--the only energy and purpose that can grapple successfully with the South; and, lastly, the Proclamation. With fidelity to the old Republican tactics, he compromises. He frees the slaves where our armies are unable to penetrate, and keeps them in chains in the States where their immediate freedom would be of incalculable benefit to our cause.

It seems as though our day of probation is nearly past. The scepter which Mr. Lincoln would use when he could, will soon be powerless. From New Jersey and New York, from Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, treason, reassured by a mistaken leniency, gathers head boldly. The whole horizon is threatening. Extreme measures and extreme men alone can save us. The apathy of the North is amazing, and people fear more the men whose faithful and uncompromising advocacy of freedom and justice have gained them the name of extremis, than they do the extremist traitors.

Radical is the word Mr. Lincoln! There is no escape from it. We gravitate to it daily. Butler must go back to New Orleans, Fremont and Phelps must lead your armies. It is time to drop Republican temporizing. “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?” Give us Democratic vigor and pluck.

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The Alabama.—Intelligence has been received of the destruction of another Boston vessel by the rebel privateer Alabama. The schooner Union, from Baltimore, arrived at Port Maria, Jamaica, Dec. 8, having on board Capt. Fulton and crew (seven in all) of bark Parker Cook, of and from Boston for Aux Cayes, captured and burnt on the 30th of November, in Mona Passage, by the Alabama. The Alabama also captured the Union, but, her cargo being owned by British subjects, she was allowed to proceed after taking on the crew of the bark and giving bond for $1500 for the vessel. Capt. F. and crew were on board the Alabama five days in irons, and during that time she was on the lookout for the California steamers.

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All the bodies of the Sioux Indians who were recently executed at Mankato, Minn., have been resurrected by the doctors for scientific purposes.

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The Boston Journal is printed on paper made from wood, under a new arrangement made by its publishers, and looks very handsomely.

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The Young Men’s Christian Association at Chicago has followed the example of the Board of Trade, and expelled that scurrilous secesh sheet, the Chicago Times, from their reading rooms. They have also voted to burn the last year’s file of the paper, in one of the most public places in the city.

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Petitions Against Negroes.—The Crisis and other “Democratic” journals are urging the people who, like them, are afraid of Negroes, to petition the Legislature to prohibit the immigration of people of color into the State. They desire to procure a very large number of names to memorials this winter. It is a great pity that these politicians should feel themselves so low in the social scale as to suppose it necessary to ask the protection of the Legislature against the poor, illiterate and degraded Negro. It is proper, however, that every man should be a judge of his own standing in society; and if these men think they are likely to fall beneath the Negro in social competition, it is very natural that they should ask for relief. But would it not be just as well to ask for special protection for themselves? As to the editor of the Crisis, we think it is wholly unnecessary, as it is doubtful if there is a Negro to be found sufficiently degraded to wish to edit such a paper as the Crisis.--Ashtabula Sentinel.

SATURDAY
JANUARY 24, 1863
THE HALLOWELL GAZETTE (ME)

The Movement of Gen. Burnside’s Army.

In the special correspondence of the N. Y. Post from Gen. Burnside’s headquarters, 17th inst., we find the following:

“The various corps of this army are under orders to be ready to march to-day. They are ready, but the order to march is still withheld. I do not think it will be issued before Monday, though the weather cannot be more favorable for moving than it is to-day, the wind of yesterday and the cold of last night having dried and frozen the ground completely. We have been on the alert for over a week, daily, expecting to be ordered out on another advance. Little to know of the intended movement. General and grand division headquarters do not vouchsafe subordinates many particulars until the time arrives for their execution.”

The correspondent says that the army, until now, has never been unanimous regarding the President’s Emancipation Proclamation, but the message of Jeff Davis has fairly turned the scale in its favor. His infamous threat to turn over all captured commissioned officers of the Union army to the rebel State Governments for treatment, according to their slave laws, the writer states, while it excites ridicule for its impotency, at the same time gives additional nerve to every arm that fights, and strengthens the resolve of every man that this despotic, bloody and causeless rebellion, with its leaders, shall perish. If the traitors want to increase the number of abolitionists in this army, let them continue to rave and threaten to execute.

The Washington correspondence of the same paper, in his letter of the 11th, says:

“General Burnside is concealing his movements from the newspaper men very adroitly. That something important is going on no one denies, but exactly what, is very properly concealed. The southern sympathizers with the rebellion (and some of them are members of Congress) go about our streets predicting utter failure. ‘The army is mutinous,” ‘the army will not fight,” and the ‘army expects to be beaten, and will be beaten,’ are some of their most popular phrases. This sort of talk invites disorder and doubtless it is their object. There have been movements of troops in and around Washington. A regiment of artillery passed through the city yesterday, and troops have been pouring down as if to reinforce Burnside, for several days.”

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The first tomatoes ever seen in the N. E. States found their way from the south to Newport. They were called “love apples” and considered poisonous. During the year 1809 or 1810 a gentleman from South Carolina spent that summer in Newport, and discovering the fruit in the garden of his boarding house, asked the lady why she did not have any of her fine tomatoes on the table. She was somewhat surprised to find by tomatoes he meant her “love apples,” which were regarded as poisonous, and grew them only as an ornamental plant. He directed her how to prepare them. Since then they have been a common plant throughout New England.

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Gen. Butler in one of his late speeches used the following forcible language in justification of his treatment of persistent rebels at New Orleans:

“Sedition is treason; treason is death, with forfeiture of goods; and all that is inflicted on a rebel, short of this, is so much gained by him from the clemency of the government.”

Loyal words, fitly spoken, and we wish that every northern democrat would manfully stand by their leader in the noble position he has taken in favor of the speedy suppression of the wicked rebellion.

Ship Building.

We copy from the Bath Times the following statistics giving an encouraging vie of the ship-building interest in this District:

We had a little curiosity to know how many vessels of the various kinds had been built within the limits of this (Bath) district during the last year. We had only to call at the Custom House and make our wishes known when we were readily furnished with the facts and figures, and as they may be of interest to our readers, as well as to us, we give them the advantage of our Yankee propensity to ask questions. There is, probably, no other District in the State where the tonnage of vessels built will amount to half that of the Bath District, notwithstanding the prevailing impression that business is exceedingly dull.

In this District, during the last year, twenty-six vessels have been built, besides several in process of completion. Nineteen were built in Bath, viz: ship Gen. Butler, 1095 tons, by J. P. Morse and others; ship Santa Anna, 499, by Alfred Lemont and others; ship Vancouver, 969 tons, by E. & A. Sewall and others; ship Thomas Fletcher, 639, by Wm. Rogers; ship Hudson, 999 tons, by John Patten and others; ship Thomas Dunham, 1096 tons by W. & J. Drummond; ship Gen. Shepley, 841 tons, by J. P. Morse and others; ship Martha Bowker, 763 tons by A. Lemont and others; ship Sabino, 1038 tons, by Geo. F. Patten and others; ship (no name), 1028 tons, by Wm. M. Reed and others; ship Sarah Freeman, 1050 tons, by W. V. Moses and Sons; steamer City of Bath, 490 tons, by Oliver Moses and Son; brig Concord, 382 tons, by J. H. Kimball; brig Kennebec, 317, by Albert Hathorne and others; schooner Bonnie Eloise, 47 tons, by Wm. Rogers; sloop Com. Foote, 38 tons, by Wm. Rice; sloop Ranger, 21 tons, by Wm. Beals; boat Eagle, 7 tons, by Wm. Hodgkins; U.S. Gunboat Katahdin, 640 tons, by Larrabee & Allen. Total 10,839 tons.

Two were built at Richmond, viz: ship T. J. Southard, 1081 tons, by T. J. Southard; ship Zouave, 1135 tons, by H. S. Hagar. Total 2216 tons.

One was built at Pittston, viz: ship Valley Forge, 1177 tons, by Wm. Bradstreet

Two were built at Bowdoinham, viz: ship Jennie Eastman, 999 tons, by J. Harward and others; schooner Alice, 55 tons, by M. F. Hibbard. Total 1055 tons.

One was built at Phipsburg, viz: bark Alice Minott, 505 tons, by C. V. Minott.

Besides, there are now on the stocks in this city some ten or twelve large vessels, including a steamboat and gunboat.

In the Passamaquoddy District, embracing Pembroke, Calais, Eastport, Dennysville, Robinston and Lubec, the number of vessels built and launched last year was twenty-two, of an aggregate tonnage of 6109.

In the Portland District, embracing Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth, Freeport and the islands, the number of vessels built and registered during the year 1862 was 17, and the aggregate tonnage 7518.

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Latest.—Our dispatches received Friday morning give rumors of a great battle being fought on the Rappahannock--the rebels flanked by Sumner, Hooker mortally wounded. These we give as rumors, not as official from the army. Gen. Fitz John Porter has been found guilty of the charges preferred against him, cashiered and dismissed from the service. Burnside has issued a stirring order to his army, stating that a decisive battle was about to be fought. It is dated on the evening of the 20th.