we are inaugurating a system of administration in New Orleans, under Major-General Banks, which we expect will relieve the condition there of much of the uneasiness which it is supposed affected the disposition of foreign powers.

The military situation remains unchanged since my last despatch. January 2, 1863. Affairs have remained unchanged, but not without prospect of change and improvement. For the moment, two opposing armies seem to be fixed on the banks of the Rappahannock. There will be, before long, a change there. Our ironclad fleet is at last afloat, and it will, I think, be heard from soon. Our two western armies, as well as that of General Banks at New Orleans, are becoming active.

The proclamation of the President adds a new and important element to the war. Its probable results are doubtless exaggerated by one portion of the people, but not more than they are underestimated by another. Assuming, as I believe, its policy to be an unchangeable one, it is not at all to be doubted that, sooner or later, it will find and reach a weakness in every nook and corner of the insurrectionary region. The very violence with which it will probably be met will, after a little, increase its efficiency.

January 5, 1863. — Our iron-clad steamers are now gathering upon the southern coast. We have lost the Monitor by her foundering at sea, and the accident justly produces a profound national regret. Her achievements had made her an object of pride - I might almost say an object of affection. But every one feels that she had already vindicated the invention and compensated the cost of her construction. Her place will be easily filled by another vessel, in which the fault to which we owe the loss of the Monitor has been corrected.

With the exception of the army of the Potomac, all our forces. are now in a condition of activity. We are yet in a state of suspense about the result of a series of battles which occurred on the 31st December, and 1st, 2d, and 3d of January, in the neighborhood of Murfreesboro'. The telegraph thus far tells us of wonderful bravery, attended with varying phases of battle, and of great loss of life on both sides.

The forces of General Sherman, belonging to the army of General Grant, having descended the Mississippi, are besieging Vicksburg. Our latest advices do not inform us that the fleet under

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Admiral Farragut has as yet passed up the river from New Orleans. The force operating in Arkansas has been eminently successful.

While it would be unwise to promise immediate and decisive operations of our naval forces, I think you may rest assured that at least the rigor of the blockade already experienced at Charleston and Mobile is likely to be increased to such a degree as to defeat the aids which are proceeding to those ports from Europe.

January 12, 1863. The information concerning military events announced by my last despatches has been in part confirmed. General Rosecrans obtained a decisive and profitable victory at Murfreesboro'. General Sherman, on the other hand, was repulsed at Vicksburg. You will find the information of the press on the result of the affair confused and unsatisfactory. It is, therefore, proper for me to say that directions have been given to Major-General Grant to reorganize and renew the expedition immediately and in a very effectual manner.

Our small force at Galveston seems to have been surprised and dislodged at the moment when reinforcements were about to enter the harbor to secure the occupation of the place. The misfortune is not a serious one.

Large land forces and an iron-clad fleet are advancing towards Charleston, and it will be not unreasonable to expect the occurrence of some important events there any time after the close of the pres

ent week.

January 13, 1863. The public attention is now fastened upon the financial measures which are engaging the consideration of Congress. As is customary with fiscal questions, they excite the utmost anxiety. There is, however, good ground to expect a settlement of the subject upon a practical and acceptable basis.

Our advance in the great national transaction in which we are engaged is seen in the fact that Congress is, for the first time, found seriously engaged with the proposition to aid some of the slaveholding states in their efforts for emancipation. A bill of that character, affecting the State of Missouri, has passed the House of Representatives, and is now under consideration in the Senate.

January 14, 1863. A new campaign has been begun, with alternating successes and disappointments. The victory at Murfreesboro' was a great one, and it has been followed by very beneficial results. Our army in Arkansas continues to be successful.

January 15, 1863. - Four weeks ago we encountered a repulse at Fredericksburg. It has been followed by no serious consequences. The army on the Rappahannock still detains its antagonist there, and leaves us opportunity for operations in other quarters. Two weeks ago General Rosecrans obtained a victory at Murfreesboro', which practically secures Tennessee to the Union. But, on the other hand, General Sherman has been repulsed in his first assault upon Vicksburg, and we have suffered an inopportune surprise and dislodgment at Galveston.

These, however, are not decisive events. We are only at the beginning of a new campaign. Forces are again concentrating at Vicksburg, adequate, as we trust, to the capture of that place, and a land and naval demonstration against Charleston is imminent.

January 19, 1863. General McClernand has attained a very important success in Arkansas. An official despatch from him confirms this information. It is thought that it must result in freeing the west side of the Mississippi from the presence of the insurrectionary forces.

January 23, 1863. We are on the eve of important movements, which as yet are but imperfectly understood by the public. A part of the force which so brilliantly carried the Post of Arkansas is understood to have ascended the White River. The remainder, considerably augmented, is supposed to have already returned to the siege of Vicksburg.

A long and very severe storm has suspended projected movements of the army of the Potomac, at Fredericksburg, and delayed for a few days the expedition against Charleston. We learn to-day that the two iron-clad vessels which encountered the storm on their way to the scene of war, not only are safe, but have proved their adaptation to the trials of the seas.

January 26, 1863. - Major-General Burnside was prevented by a severe storm from renewing hostilities last week on the Potomac. The hindrance will continue until the condition of the roads near the Rappahannock shall have mended. Meantime General Burnside has tendered his resignation, and he is now replaced by MajorGeneral Hooker. The expedition against Charleston was delayed by the storm, but the forces are now being put in motion.

It is understood here that General McClernand's forces, with Commodore Porter's fleet, after their brilliant achievements in

Arkansas, have returned to the siege of Vicksburg, and have been adequately reinforced by General Grant.

February 4, 1863. We have entered upon new campaigns, whose events cannot fail to affect public opinion abroad as well as at home. We have boundless and excited discussions, as might be expected among a free people, and all these discussions are overheard with exaggeration of the tone of the disputants in foreign countries. Nevertheless, it may very well be doubted whether any other government, whatever its constitution, has gone more steadily, more firmly, more dispassionately, or more energetically through trials equal to those we have already surmounted.

The re

The results of military operations during the last three months are sufficiently manifest to have a determinate value. verses were the repulse at Fredericksburg and the repulse at Vicksburg. Each of these reverses was practically fruitless to the insurgents. The successes were the battle at Murfreesboro' and the capture of the Post of Arkansas. Each of these not only weakened the insurgents, but enlarged the field of Federal authority. It is understood that the expeditions at Charleston and Vicksburg are now in full activity, and we shall not long wait for important results.

It is never easy to know what value to put upon popular expectations and popular fears as omens of ultimate success. It could not be concealed that there has been a season of deep anxiety since the reverse at Fredericksburg. It is apparent that there is now a measured return of public confidence. The last change is probably not more reliable than the one which preceded it. However this may be, it is certainly cheering to perceive that the idle speculations upon mediation and the spasmodic demands of certain impulsive politicians for armistices and concessions have failed to pervert the public mind, and that there remains the same firm determination to maintain the Union that was everywhere manifested at the beginning of the contest.

February 10, 1863. — The public journals contain the details of the recent surprise of the Mercedita at Charleston, which show that the idea of the insurgents that they had raised the blockade at that port was illusory. The activity of the forces in that vicinity, and also of the forces at Vicksburg, will not escape your attention.

The battle at Fort Donelson was a decided triumph of the Union arms, and greatly strengthens the position of General Rosecrans.

There is good reason to expect that the important bills designed to enable the President to prosecute the war with vigor and diligence will pass the Congress by decisive majorities.

February 24, 1863. The military and naval conditions remain. unchanged. Congress is diligent in loyal and effective legislation. Some little excitement has followed the publication of the recent correspondence with the French government, but the effect seems to be not unwholesome. You will give no credit to rumors of alienation between Mr. Mercier and this government.

The Canada's advices of the organization of the British Parliament, telegraphed, are not different from what was anticipated. It is manifest that the national interest is absorbed by the expectation of military achievements regarded as imminent.

March 2, 1863. Experience has shown that it has been impossible to conform the policy of the government, in a crisis of civil war, to the views and wishes of European statesmen, who reasoning from present European interests, regard a peace, however obtained and at whatever cost, preferable to a prosecution of the war at all; and who, at every stage of the controversy, see only the difficulties, embarrassments, and disappointments of the nation, and take no notice of the contraction and exhaustion of the insurgents. March 16, 1863. — The hopeful view of European opinion concerning our affairs is happily coincident with a returning calmness and firmness of public confidence at home. Nothing was ever more preposterous than the idea engendered here, and sent abroad to perplex Europe, that an American Secretary of State would employ a plenipotentiary of the Emperor of France to negotiate with American insurgents, and that a plenipotentiary of such a power would accept such a mission. Happily, European credulity is becoming unable to bear the tests enforced upon it.

March 24, 1863. There is no certain news, though in the main encouraging reports come from the Mississippi. The demonstration on Charleston is delayed by reason of casualties that befell some of the machinery at sea. The promptest possible means have been taken to repair the difficulty.

Confidence is manifestly reviving in the country, and unmistakable signs of exhaustion appear in the insurrectionary region.

You will not give credit to newspaper statements about a decision in no case to employ private armed ships. The President, as you might well imagine, considers — he does not yet decide.