be; that the South began war by seizing forts, arsenals, mints, custom-houses, &c., long before Mr. Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one Jot or tittle of provocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi we fed thousands upon thousands of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war comes home to you, you feel very different-you deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent carloads of soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shells and shot to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through Union and war, and I will ever conduct war purely with a view to perfect and early success."

What we want, then, in our armies, and in the whole nation, is a greater exhibition of moral force. Let Sherman be repeated. There are other men who have the requisite decision and judgment. Let them be brought forward. We want them. The war will end when the moral strength of the North exceeds that of the South.

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Major-General J. M. Palmer arrived at Louisville, February 18th, to assume command of the new Department of Kentucky.

Major-General Curtis assumed command of the Department of the Northwest, February 13th; head-quarters at Milwaukee.

Major-General J. M. Schofield assumed command of the Department of North Carolina, February 9th. Head-quarters with the army in the field.

Brigadier-General J. A. Rawlins has been brevetted major-general, and has been confirmed by the Senate, to be chief of staff to Lieutenant-General Grant.

Brigadier-General J. R. Hawley has been appointed to the command of the Department of Wilmington, and Brevet Brigadier-General Abbott to that of the post of Wilmington.

Brigadier-General Saxton has been appointed Superintendent of the Recruiting Service, and Brevet Brigadier-General Littlefield, Mustering and Disbursing Officer in the Department of the South.

Brigadier-General George H. Gordon has been temporarily assigned to the command of the District of East Virginia, relieving General G. F. Shepley, who reports to Major-General Weitzel, Twenty-fifth Corps, for assignment to duty.

Brigadier-General L. A. Grant (Sixth Corps) has been brevetted major-general. Colonel Forsythe, of Major-General Sheridan's staff, formerly of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, has been appointed to the vacant brigadier-generalship, made by the death of General Charles R. Lowell.

Colonel J. Wager Swayne, 43d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, has been brevetted brigadier-general for gallant services in the Georgia campaign.

Colonel George P. Foster, 4th Vermont Volunteers, has been brevetted brigadier-general, and appointed to the command of the Vermont Brigade in General Getty's Division in Sixth Corps.

Colonel R. D. Mussey has been appointed Superintendent of the Freedmen of East and Middle Tennessee.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart L. Woodford, 127th New York Volunteers, has been promoted to the rank of colonel, and temporarily assigned to the command of the city of Charleston.

Acting Rear-Admiral Thatcher arrived at New Orleans on the 28th of February, and assumed command of the West Gulf Squadron, vice Commodore Palmer. The latter officer will command the vessels left at New Orleans.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE

AND

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

To Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., of Boston, we are indebted for the "History of New England, during the Stuart Dynasty, by John Gorham Palfrey, Vol. III.," (8vo, 648 pp.) Historians are usually self-appointed, and, in many cases, the idols of the den render them partial, unjust, and incomplete. But if New England had thoroughly scrutinized her list of gifted scholars for an historiographer-although their name is legion-she could have found no one fitter for the honorable position than the learned and accurate Palfrey. A life of literary culture and progress, with ardent study of general history, has made him eminently capable in the rhetorical structure and presentation of such a work; for many years a Unitarian divine, he is thoroughly versed in the theological discussions which have so much to do with New England history; a statesman, and (in the best sense) a politician, he understands the machinery of governments; an honest man, even in maintaining heterodox opinions, he states them as fairly as an opponent could desire; a careful and pains-taking editor, he has spared neither time, labor, nor trouble, in procuring, verifying, and collating his very varied and heterogeneous material. To all these qualifications Dr. Palfrey adds an intense love for New England, of which his labors, whatever their public success, would be, in his eyes, but a slight manifestation.

Had he, with more sense of self-interest, expended the same scholarship and research on some picturesque portion of general history, like those chosen by Prescott and Motley, he would have achieved greater reputation; but, unlike them, his aim was labor and not fame. Fame however he has also achieved. Dr. Palfrey's original design was to bring the history down to a later period, but the work grew upon his hands, and he is warned, by his increasing years and duties, to bring it to a close with the final expulsion of the direct line of Stuarts in 1688. The volume before us opens with the reign of Charles II., and a clear summary of affairs in England and France. The second chapter, containing an essay on the government and laws of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth, is written with a full knowledge, principally obtained, we conceive, when, as Secretary of State of Massachusetts, he was, unlike most secretaries, the careful arranger and reader of the documents and papers of which he was ex-officio custodian. We remember to have penetrated with him into a certain iron room, ten or twelve years ago, and read, with some loss of personal identity, a few of those early records, of which he knew more than any man living. The third volume of his history is less preliminary, more varied, and, although not more valuable, far more interesting than the others, to the general reader. Among the topics of dramatic interest we notice King Philip's War in 1675; the visit of George Fox to Rhode Island, and the growth of Harvard College.

If, in a more extended review, we should find occasion to differ from Dr. Palfrey on some points, and to present our reasons for so doing, we prefer, in this short

notice, to thank him for his noble work, to declare that New England owes him a debt of gratitude, and to hope that his noble example will be followed by some scholar who is worthy to bring the history down to the only proper limit of philosophical history-the faint memory of the oldest inhabitant.

When a poet, who has contributed to the language even one poem like Marco Bozarris, and few, among his few other pieces which are unworthy companions to it,— in his later life, as the autumn gives token of winter, presents to the world such a poem as "Young America," the duty of his friends-he has no enemies- is respectful silence. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

There are some wants long felt, and at length set aside, as not to be satisfied. One of these has been with us a copy of Gil Blas, of Santillane, in clear, generous type, white paper, the volumes not so large as to fatigue the hand-a book in short to be taken up in spare half-hours; to renew our acquaintance with Fabricio, Laura, Seraphina, the Archbishop, as representatives of human nature.

This want is at last met in the really beautiful edition of Gil Blas, translated by Smollett, and published by Little, Brown & Co., of Boston. It is in three volumes, 12mo, and is altogether the most satisfactory library edition we have seen. Those who are furnishing libraries, public and private, will of course have Gil Blas, and they will do well to see this edition before they buy.

As to the matter, we need only say that, having read Gil Blas many times, in French, Spanish and English, we seized upon this as soon as received, and devoured it again with more zest than any modern novel has excited by a first perusal.

Kindred with this in form, print, paper and binding, is an edition of Don Quixote, epic, satire, comedy, and gentle tragedy. The editor who should venture to recommend Don Quixote to his readers, would offer them an indignity, but we may and do recommend a reperusal in this elegant edition of Little & Brown. Four vols.

From Major John A. Bolles, Judge-Advocate of the Court, we have received a copy of the "Trial of John Y. Beall, as a Spy and Guerrillero," by military commission. The case is so universally known that we need not mention details. He who, in disguise, seized two steamboats carrying unarmed and peaceful travellers, and sunk one; who attempted to throw a train of cars off the track by placing obstructions, at night; and who, in various places, was a spy of the most undisguised character, could surely expect nothing but an ignominious death. The spirited speech-not argument-in his favor, by Mr. Brady, could, of course, do nothing for him, and the clear and exhaustive reply of Major Bolles was not needed to convict him. But that reply is valuable as a lucid exposition of the subject, to anticipate rebel cavils, to serve as precedent, and to mark this kind of offence for history in the manifold record of the war.

War has its great organic laws, which War punishes to vindicate the right, and as a terror to evil-doers.

Published by D. Appleton & Co., New York.

EDITOR'S SPECIAL DEPARTMENT.

THE theatre of operations has become so contracted by the magnificent strategy of our leaders, that we may venture upon a statement of the plans and counterplans with which this splendid battle-spring opens upon the military world. It is the climax of the colossal war.

1. The armies in front of Richmond are designed to hold Lee there; to prevent him from sending large re-enforcements southward; to beat him if he comes out to offer battle; to circumvent him if he flies, and to occupy Richmond, with which occupation the war will virtually close,-not because there are not other places where armies may concentrate, and strategic advantages be gained, but because the surrender of Richmond will display such weakness of resource, and such a trammelling in war room, that entire public opinion will do the work of defeat: the stubbornest European prejudices, already rudely shaken by the loss of Charleston, will irrevocably break down when Richmond falls.

2. Sherman and Schofield move up through North Carolina, driving the small rebel force, under the invincible-when retiring-Johnston, before them, to cut the southern communications with Richmond; to open the country now lukewarm in rebel sympathies to Federal influence, and to narrow the circle of the hunt until "chaos come again" in rebel precincts.

3. Sheridan, the most daring of riders, cuts the canals and railroads which supply Richmond from the west; threatens Lynchburg-a strong point, if they evacuate Richmond; causes the hurrying of troops, in wild confusion, to the north of the capital, and to Burkesville, and awakens new fears in the already quaking forces which still cling to the defences of Richmond and Petersburg. In fine, our policy is to hem them in, and make them attack us at present, and only to cry, "Up, Guards," when we can move upon them at every point of an irresistible line.

แ

Meanwhile, we are not idle elsewhere. Thomas is moving southward with a large body of mounted troops, and a large force threatens Mobile. Jets of volcanic flame answer everywhere to the great eruptions on the Eastern coast.

Such being a brief enumeration of our plans, let us look at the counter-plans of the Confederate General. Not in his councils, we can only guess at them, applying the proper tests of military science.

1. To hold Richmond to the last, because with Richmond falls the rebel cause. In case it must be abandoned, Malay-like to run a muck, and fall, sword in hand, either upon Grant's force, now strong, efficient, and ardent, which will be condign destruction; or, to try another short fatal battle-summer at the North, which, with Grant's army following and Sheridan's intercepting, would be rapid ruin. Indeed the havoc made by Sheridan with their communications and the lack of supplies, render this course extremely improbable.

2. To send troops to check Sherman, and throw him back upon the coast, thus restoring somewhat the status in quo, or rather the status ante Sherman, and thus diminishing the prestige of that general, whose name is a tower of strength, and a presage of destruction; but even here they fail, for they cannot find him where they want him, and he goes where they do not want him.

3. To evacuate Richmond, rally upon Lynchburg, there dig the last ditch in which

faute de mieux, the great secession treason will bury itself forever. Whatever be their policy, concentration is their only possibility, and concentration is ruin. Were the rebel armies well supplied, and in good spirits; had their later experiences of the war been even checkered by light and shade, and not one dead gloom of disaster; had the people still confidence in their leaders, when they rave out their promises of ruin to the republic, and certain success to the treason; did the soldiers still believe that the sacrifice of their lives would insure the success of their cause, were one or even a few of these things in their favor, they might yet, closed in upon as they are by the Federal armies, make some mighty effort, and achieve some compensating victories; but they have no such hopes, no such trust. "On ne va pas à la guerre pour être tué," says Marshal Marmont. Men go to war to succeed, to win victories. Show the rebel soldiers, as every day's experience is showing them, that they have nothing further to hope, and they will desert in vast bodies, will feign to fight, and then retire, will seek to give themselves up as prisoners, will disintegrate the rebel armies, and make further resistance impossible.

Napoleon fought, in 1814, at La Rothière, at Laon and Craonne, but Arcis-surAube demonstrated the folly of further resistance, and he was closeted in confusion at Fontainebleau, while the débris of his army was going through the motions of a battle at Paris. There is a striking moral parallelism; and if Napoleon could no longer make head against such stupid men as Blücher and Schwartzenburg, how can Lee, without skilful lieutenants, hope to win against Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, aided by corps and division generals of the first order. We need say nothing about the great cause, nor quote Shakspeare to show what moral weapons are aimed at those "whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."

To illustrate these general remarks, we may refer to the principal events which have transpired, and movements which have been made, since our last issue. The rebel cause has received numerous "blessings in disguise." Charleston was evacuated, and in such haste that, although they burned most of the cotton, they left four hundred and fifty guns behind them. Of course the rebels are all the better off for evacuating Charleston. Fort Anderson fell, after a combined attack by the army and navy, and then Wilmington was given up on the 22d of February. Here again it is manifest-to them-that, whatever we have gained, they have lost nothing. Georgetown, on the Black River, above its junction with the Pedee, was taken by Admiral Dahlgren on the 28th-another knell for blockade-runners. On this expedition, the Admiral's temporary flag-ship, the Harvest-Moon, was blown up by a torpedo. The iron rim on the Atlantic is thick and all-excluding.

Johnston, who relieved Beauregard, at the request of the latter, it is said, now sets himself seriously to work to wreak vengeance on the insolent Sherman-the Bête noir or Loup garou of the Confederacy, who goes just where he wants to, and not where they want him; and while threatening Charlotte, and putting them on the qui vive there, turns aside to Cheraw, Laurel Hill, Fayetteville, and thus is within striking distance of Schofield. Schofield, a fighting general, accompanies the advance in his new department of North Carolina, and in the battle near Kinston, recovers a partial disaster, repulses the most desperate attacks of Hill and Hoke, and finally drives the enemy across the Neuse, while he occupies Kinston on the 13th. Bragg chronicles a great success, but finds it convenient to retire, with double loss. We do not enter into the details of Sherman's march, because of the vague knowledge we can have at present, and because we are promised full papers on his movements by a competent hand hereafter.