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adoption of the new Constitution, which raises eighty thousand slaves to the condition of freemen.

A letter from the pretended Governor of Louisiana, which has been intercepted, urges the emancipation and enrolment of negroes as soldiers in the insurgent army, and the "Richmond Enquirer " now openly advocates that desperate policy. On the other hand, we have authentic information that one hundred captured Union colored soldiers, who were compulsorily employed at work on the fortifications around Danville, rose upon their guard, disarmed them, armed themselves, and effected their escape from captivity. It is not improbable that we are reaching a new phase of this extraordinary civil war.

November 21, 1864. We have satisfactory information that the operations of the rebel Price against Missouri have failed, and that he has retired southward beyond the line where pursuit would be consistent with the strategy of our commanders.

The brief season of military repose on this side of the Mississippi seems to have come to an end. Direct communications with MajorGeneral Sherman have ceased. We hear through the rebel newspapers that he is advancing in Georgia, and they say that on the 17th instant he was at Jonesboro. General Gillen suffered a defeat at the hands of Breckenridge in east Tennessee, with the loss of four hundred killed, wounded, and missing. Hood is manoeuvring in Alabama, on the borders of Tennessee River; but the commanding general in that region thinks himself able to maintain his position in Tennessee. It is understood that at least one column of the enemy's force which has so long been operating under Early in the Shenandoah valley has been withdrawn to Richmond. We have good grounds for believing that the report of the death of MajorGeneral Canby, which fills the morning newspapers, is erroneous, as I pray God it may be.

The exigencies of civil war have at last brought the treasonable cabal at Richmond to a serious debate upon propositions for arming, and, of course, emancipating a portion of the slave population. Thus it is seen that the so deeply deprecated irrepressible conflict has at last broken out in the very seat and citadel of slavery itself. November 29, 1864. The military situation in Shenandoah valley remains unchanged. The same is true of the siege of Richmond.

Our information from General Sherman, through rebel channels, is that he has advanced in a track covering the two great railroads beyond Milledgeville and Macon, thus far encountering no serious opposition.

It is understood that the rebels in Alabama and Tennessee are designing to pursue and harass Sherman. Dispositions have been made by General Thomas for such an emergency.

The rebel Florida was sunk in Hampton Roads. No communications on the subject of her capture have been received from Brazil.

December 5, 1864. — Your despatch of the 18th of November has been received. It presents the reflections which occurred to you while awaiting the unknown result of the late national election. These reflections are wise and just. The government did not begin the war, but waited after it was begun for a clear and unmistakable position of self-defence. Moreover, the government, in deference to the Constitution, declined to give to this defensive war the character of an aggressive one for the removal of slavery, although it well knew that slavery was the real cause of the rebellion. The government, pursuing this policy, has constantly made the maintenance of the Union the principal object of its military operations. Nevertheless, the course of events has been such as to justify the assumption, that in point of fact, the war is a principal force in a popular revolution against African slavery. At the beginning of the contest the people, even in the loyal states, were by no means united, much less were they unanimous in regarding that political revolution as necessary, wise, or lawful. Hitherto, therefore, our principal danger was that of counter-revolution, to be prosecuted in the interest of slavery as a recognized constituent of our national system. A counter-revolution was plotted, and preparations to some extent were secretly made to put it in execution. We have not only discovered the conspirators, but we have also seized arms and munitions which they have gathered. The late election brought the plot to the knowledge of the people, and their decision has rendered its execution impossible. Without the aid of counterrevolution the rebellion must fail. We may therefore conclude that the country has safely passed the turning-point in the revolutionary movement against slavery, and that henceforth we shall see the Union rapidly recovering its moral strength and vigor.

December 5, 1864. The military situation is exciting much interest. Major-General Thomas, upon whom the conduct of operations in Tennessee has devolved by the departure of Major-General Sherman, has been, during the last week, withdrawing his forces from advanced points of observation to the lines of Nashville, writes. that on the 30th day of November the enemy attacked MajorGeneral Schofield at Franklin, and was repulsed with a loss to the enemy variously stated at thirty to forty flags, and four to five thousand men. After thus defeating the enemy General Schofield retired without serious molestation to the defensive position towards which he was marching when the interruption occurred. On the 3d instant there was skirmishing on the Cumberland River below Nashville, at first with advantages to the enemy, but in the end the advantage was reversed.

We glean from the meagre reports of the insurgent press that Major-General Sherman is advancing, as yet practically unresisted, towards the Atlantic coast. The most definite account is that he was on the 30th ultimo at or on the borders of Millen, on the Southern or Georgia Central railroad.

Affairs are unchanged in front of Richmond. It is understood that Early is at last sending troops up the valley to reinforce Lee. December 13, 1864. The military situation is best described as being one of intense expectation. Lieutenant-General Grant is engaged in important movements. What has transpired concerning these movements is the marching of General Warren, on the 6th instant, with a large force directed against the Weldon railroad. The effect is not yet known. Other manoeuvres of the force at Richmond are expected without delay. We know that on the 7th Major-General Sherman had advanced to a point half-way between Millen and the Savannah River. Later reports abound, but they are not reliable. Major-General Thomas is besieged by Hood, but the official reports give us no uneasiness about the safety of Nashville, or of Knoxville. Important events may soon be expected in this quarter. The press has rumors, which, however, are believed to be groundless, that General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren have cut the railroad connection between Charleston and Savannah.

The intrigues of rebel emissaries, promoted during the whole. summer and autumn, have ripened into alarming menaces of the

peace of the Canada border, and of the principal cities in the loyal states. It is an expensive guerrilla warfare prosecuted from neutral ground, and it is not likely to advance the insurrection at home or increase its popularity abroad.

December 14, 1864. — I have just received information, by telegraph, from Montreal, that the felons who proceeded from Canada into Vermont and committed the crimes of robbery, burglary, and murder at St. Albans, in that state, and who were arrested in Canada upon a requisition of this government, under the tenth article of the treaty of the 9th of August, 1842, have been set at liberty; that the stolen money which was found upon them has been restored to them; and that they are now at large near the border of the United States, in the province aforenamed.

December 17, 1864. -You direct my attention to the articles in which the presses of London and Paris consoled the European enemies of the United States for their reverse in the presidential election, by spasmodic predictions of the failure of our armies in the valley of Virginia, at Richmond, in Georgia, in Tennessee, and in and beyond the Mississippi. By a singular coincidence singular coincidence my reading of these portentous warnings was interrupted by the electric news that in a large degree the belligerent forces have withdrawn from the Shenandoah valley; that Major-General Thomas, on the 16th instant, left his works and assaulted the besieging army under Hood, and in battles continuing through days, defeated and routed it, killing and wounding a yet unestimated number, and capturing fifty guns, as many flags, and certainly more than five thousand prisoners. In the same moment came the agreeable intelligence that the enemy were routed and driven from the batteries they had planted on the Cumberland, on the northern line of General Thomas' communication; that General Burbridge had got into the rear of Breckenridge and captured Abingdon, in Virginia, and defeated the enemy at Glades Springs and at Kingsport, on the Holston River, in Tennessee. General Canby reported at the same moment the success of two expeditions the one from Memphis, which destroyed Hood's communication with Jackson, Mississippi, and the other from Baton Rouge towards Mobile, which prevented all attempts to supply or reinforce Hood from that place.

Simultaneously Major-General Sherman reports that he has arrived at the mouth of the Ogeechee, and taken Fort McAllister,

with its garrison and armament of twenty-one guns, by storm. Thus he has firmly planted at the Ossabaw Sound, below Savannah, in full coöperation with the land and naval forces; thus he has invested that city and demanded its surrender. A well-appointed fleet of sixty-five vessels, carrying six hundred guns, attended by a coöperating army under Major-General Butler, departed from Hampton Roads on the 13th instant, with a destination (concealed by seal upon its orders) which will probably be revealed by the telegraph before the departure of the steamer with our outgoing mail from Boston.

The pretended rebel house of representatives have passed a bill designed to force the slaves in the insurgent states to fight for the establishment of an empire having African slavery for its cornerstone. We shall see whether this desperate effort improves the condition of the insurgents. The "Richmond Enquirer" argues for the abolition of slavery with the zeal if not with the charity of Wilberforce. It seems now to be a question, whether the United States armies shall effect emancipation under the President's war proclamation, or Virginia shall abolish slavery to baffle the United States armies. So that it is manifest that slavery in Virginia must. perish in any case.

December 19, 1864. In my despatch of the 14th instant, I informed you that Coursol, the provincial judge at Montreal, had set at liberty the felons who committed the crimes of robbery and murder at St. Albans. Subsequent information confirms the fact, with the addition that the money stolen, to the amount, as is understood, of ninety thousand dollars, which was in the custody of the law, was delivered to the felons by the police, under the direction of the same judge, and that thus richly furnished with the spoils of our citizens, they were conveyed amid popular acclamations, in sleighs which had been prepared for their escape, from the courtroom, beyond the reach of fresh pursuit; that the discharge of the prisoners was placed upon technical ground, now confessed to be erroneous, equally in law and in fact; that when new warrants were issued, the police were dilatory and treacherous in the execution; and that all efforts for the recapture of the culprits have thus far been unsuccessful. It is believed that they have already escaped from Canada, to find even more sure protection and favor in Nova Scotia. It is impossible to consider these proceedings as either legal, just, or friendly towards the United States.

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