SUNDAY
OCTOBER 13, 1861
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

NAVAL TRIUMPH IN THE PASSES

The flotilla of Capt. Hollins won a signal victory over the blockaders in the mouth of the river yesterday.

The city was in intense anxiety all the morning, knowing that the little fleet had gone down the day before, to try the mettle of the invaders within the bar, consisting of the Vincennes, the Preble, the Water Witch, the Richmond, and other smaller Federal vessels. About noon the tidings of an engagement began to arrive, and about 3p.m. the glorious news was received that the expedition had been entirely successful—having captured a store vessel, sunk the Preble, a sloop-of-war of 16 guns, and driven the others on to the bar, where they were badly “peppered,” as the Commodore, in his brief dispatch, describes his treatment of his grounded enemies. They were in all probability protected from total destruction by the broadsides of the blockading vessels outside the bar, who could only witness, at a distance, they damage which had been done to their friends. The Confederates accomplished this without the loss of a man!

By this gallant exploit, the river is cleared of these pests, and Lincoln may estimate the chances of his project of setting up custom-houses at the mouth of the river, in order to buy, with a promise of letting out the cotton crop, the tolerance of foreigners for his ineffectual blockade, and pay them for tardiness in recognizing Southern independence.

This feat will rank with the most brilliant and daring achievements of the war. It was skillfully projected, and executed with an impetuous bravery which reflects new honors on the veteran sailor who was in command, and stamps the crews whom he led, as men of the true metal when danger and duty call.

The result of this dashing expedition shows what sort of a reception the marauding expeditions which are setting out from the North are likely to meet, when the proper preparations are made for encountering them. The advantages of flotillas of gun boats and launches, issuing out of creeks and rivers, and supported by proper shore batteries, over any invading force afloat, and  sufficiently demonstrable, and now sufficiently demonstrated, to show where our real defences lie, and to stimulate the authorities to place them everywhere where they may be needed to repel any serious attempt to penetrate into the country. Another such reception, if Lincolnism is willing to encounter it again, would go far to extinguish finally the idea of attempting invasion from that quarter. The blow which has so crippled their force at the first encounter should be our inspiring caution to redouble the preparations for resistance to any possible accumulation of attacking force, and thus satisfy the enemy of the uselessness of prosecuting a hopeless design.

We are expecting fuller details of this gallant affair, than has been given by telegraph, before we go to press; in which case we hope to gratify public curiosity by giving them in full. Everything connected with it must be deeply interesting to

our citizens, whose brothers, neighbors, and near friends have won this success, and they will have a warm welcome for the veteran Commodore and his gallant men, when they return from the seat of conflict.

It is no Hatteras affair, where a Major General, at the head of a Federal army, and a Commodore of a large Federal squadron were fêted about the Northern cities as famous conquerors, for having captured a petty sand bank with half a regiment of men, but it was a naval fight in which superior forces were badly whipped, and the victors come to receive the plaudits of their fellow-citizens for the successful repulse of a powerful and insolent invader. By sea and by land, the good cause flourishes, under the smiles of a benign Providence, by the strong arms and brave hearts of the soldiers and sailors of the South. So may it continue to be, until the invader is driven from our borders and our coasts, and our flag waves the uncontested symbol of our independence on the seas as upon the land.

THE MILITARY BARBECUE ON THE METAIRIE

Next Thursday will be a gala day on the Metairie Course, and we may fairly expect to see almost if not quite all New Orleans on the grounds on that occasion. The grand military barbecue is to be got up on a scale of unprecedented magnificence, and the arrangements being made in the most competent and experienced hands, we are positively assured, in advance, of its perfect success in every particular.

The now full regiment of Confederate Guards will be present in uniform, and in the afternoon will give a dress parade, under their commander, Col. Westmore. Every thing that can be devised for the accommodation and enjoyment of those who attend this festival has been thought of, and the ladies particularly will find their comfort and convenience specially cared for.

The proceeds of this fair, which cannot but be very large, will be appropriated entirely to the benefit of our absent volunteers, and that of their families here at home.

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The Military Barbecue—Those lumber merchants who have contributed to the barbecue, we are requested to say, will please have the lumber on the ground early Monday (to-morrow) morning, and the builders will please be there at the same time.

ADVERTISEMENT

FREE MILITARY GYMNASIUM
103 ST. CHARLES STREET.

Companies desirous of Gymnastic Exercises will be gratuitously taught by the undersigned. A fine Parade Ground is attached. The place will be open on THURSDAY, 17^th inst. Apply to the proprietor.

J. B. MARTINEZ

MONDAY
OCTOBER 14, 1861
THE PORTLAND (ME) DAILY ADVERTISER

GOVERNMENT POURING TROOPS INTO KENTUCKY

A Louisville correspondent of the Chicago Tribune states that on the nights of the 2d and 3d inst., the Cincinnati mail boat, Jacob Strader, an immense steamer, was engaged continually in making trips from Cincinnati to Covington opposite, acting in the capacity of a ferry boat, for transporting soldiers across into Kentucky.

The numbers which it is asserted have crossed the river at that point amount to 12,000 men and several full batteries. This force, moreover, is said to be from Washington.

On Monday, 20^th ult., the railroads at Cincinnati and the one terminating at Jeffersonville, opposite Louisville, refused all freight, and the next day it leaked out that Gen. McClellan had taken possession of all the railroads north from Washington and west, thus impressing the three grand trunks of the New York and Erie, New York Central and Pennsylvania Central railroads into the government service for the transportation to Kentucky of—the Enquirer intimates—an army of 50,000 men. This the Tribune’s correspondent says is undoubtedly true, and if so, certainly good news. It indicates that the administration is determined not to allow Kentucky to become a second Missouri.

THE NAVAL SCHOOL

Baltimore American--One of the evil consequences visited upon Maryland, as the fruits of this rebellion, is the breaking up of the naval School at Annapolis; and what efforts should we make to have such an institution, the pride of our State, restored to us? What has South Carolina to offer us as a compensation for this deprivation, suppose we were to truckle to her false theories in every particular? And in the proposition made by the Confederates to invade our territory and take us under their protecting wing, what could they give us as an equivalent?

If we lose this noble institution from amongst us, let us enter it as another item in the account yet to be fully posted as the fruits of Secession doings on the 19^th of April; let us return thanks to Secession for this favor never to be forgotten.

There is yet a chance to retrieve ourselves in the eyes of the nation; there may still be hopes that with the ending of the suicidal war inaugurated, we may yet retain in our midst an institution so honorable to our State.

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The Lecture Season promises no great crop for the cultivators. Literature and art, as well as laws, are silent in war times. The man who cannot preach the great lesson of the hour, is not likely to have many hearers. Talk is little needed now, unless it clings close to action. When the country is in peril, the most eloquent discourse about physics or metaphysics, poetry or morality, seem the most idle and insane of gabble. And even war oratory must be brief and pungent or it offends the ear. “To Arms!” “Down with treason!” “The Union Forever!”—these are the texts for public speakers, and short and terse must be the comment. It is something to make good speakers, but the man of heroic deeds—he it is who will live in the memory of the Nation.

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A Lively Saturday Night—Irish rows flourished on Saturday night. The police report no less than five first class “shindies” in the various parts of the city, in which bruised heads, blacked eyes, bloody noses, and damaged clothing were the sum total of results.

New Government Steamers—The two new side wheel steamers now building at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, have been named the Sebago and Mahaska—from two lakes in Maine—reports the Portsmouth Chronicle. Will “Uncle Tobey” please state in what part of Maine “Mahaska” is situated?

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Grain Crops—After careful collection of statements from various regions, and from sources so diverse that concurrence among them is evidence conclusive—we repeat that the deficiency of the French wheat crop below the usual average requires a supply of about eighty millions of bushels from other countries—and that the British deficit, usually forty millions of bushels, is increased this year by between twenty and thirty millions of bushels; the wants of France and Britain thus jointly amounting to about one hundred and fifty millions of bushels.

In addition to France, the other southern countries of Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, &c.,) are by extraordinary coincidence in ill fortune, more or less deficient in wheat—dependent on other countries for supplying the deficiency; even the pope, like the French Emperor, throwing open ports to the free entry of grain for meeting the deficit—an example likely to be followed by other monarchs in the countries above named.

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Speeches of Our Generals—Gen. Anderson lately made the following speech to some Kentucky Home Guards:

“Boys, you are going to  fight for your country. Honor yourself by heroic deeds in her behalf. Never disgrace yourselves, boys. Do everything that is right and nothing that is wrong. There, boys, that is my speech to you.”

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According to the Boston Post the public interest in the war leaves little room for much interest in anything else. The usual events of life strike us but faintly in comparison with issues of battles. The case of the old lady who complained in the time of the Mexican war that she “didn’t enjoy her murders” any more, illustrates the position of thousands in this country at the present moment. Common casualties are scarcely glanced at in the newspapers; marriages interest nobody but the “happy pair”; and deaths in the natural way have lost half their impressiveness. As to literature, who reads a book now unless it treats of “broil and battle?” “Sensation novels” produce no sensation whatever, and poetry is not even “a drug in the market,” for drugs are saleable, and verses have no buyers. No matter, says Quilp; let us put down the rebellion before we fret over the losses that it occasions to thousands of loyal people whoa re suffering for the treason of others. Business before pleasure is the motto. If we can secure the country to its old integrity—and “the Union must be preserved”—we shall be able to rejoice in a sweeter prosperity than we ever knew before.

TUESDAY
OCTOBER 15, 1861
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE SOUTH

The Richmond Examiner, in a late issue, has a fierce attack on the inefficiency of the Southern postal arrangements. In the closing part of the article it says:

“The outrage inflicted upon the people of the South by this brutal suppression of the news is only equalled by the tax now inflicted upon the soldiers in the camps for the newspapers they read. Are the public prepared to believe that the carriers who distribute newspapers among the soldiers encamped at any distance from our cities, have first to purchase them of newspaper offices, and then to pay the amount of the purchase money a second time to the Post Office Department, before being allowed to transmit them upon the railroad? The agent who sends a thousand papers from any Richmond office to Manassas must first pay two hundred dollars for them at the printing office, and then pay two hundred dollars to the Post office, before they can be sent to the Army. A greater hardship even than the extortion of this man is the requirement that the papers shall be stamped before transmission—this delay itself hazarding the transmission of the papers at all.

“The consequence of the arrangement is that, whereas, before the post-office levied the extortionate tax of two cents, the carrier could afford to sell newspapers to soldiers for five cents, he is now compelled to demand ten cents—the actual cost of the paper, delivered at the camps, being more than five cents. Thus the soldier who wishes to spend the leisure hours of his time in camp in reading the latest newspapers, is obliged to pay three dollars each month out of his eleven dollars of pay, for the very harmless recreation. He is compelled to pay a dollar and a half more per month for his newspaper, in order that the post-office may reap the wretched pittance of sixty cents. . .”

CONDEMNATION OF THE REINDEER

Providence, Oct. 14—Judge Pitman announced this morning the decision of the court in the case of the barque Reindeer, seized by Collector Macy of Newport, for being fitted out as a slaver. The libel was filed by District-Attorney Hayes in August last, and the trial of the case was finished last Thursday, having occupied nine days. Judge Pitman sustained the jurisdictions of the court, which was a subject of discussion during the trial, and adjudged the vessel, her tackle, furniture and cargo, forfeited to the United States.

NORTHERN PROPERTY CONFISCATED IN RICHMOND

Special Washington dispatches say that the Richmond Enquirer of the 11^th gives the aggregate value of confiscated Northern property in that city at $800,000. Among the sufferers are August Belmont, $280,000 worth tobacco; Chickering & Sons, large stock of pianos at their agency in Richmond; W. C. Rives, jr., of Boston, 800 acres of fine land, fully stocked with Negroes, other live stock and implements; Francis Rives of New York, 800 acres, with a number of Negroes and other stock; Mrs. Sigourney, also 800 acres, with Negroes and other live stock. Agents have been appointed by the traitors to look after these estates, and pay revenues arising therefrom into the rebel treasury.

COMMISSIONERS TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

The Commissioners to the World’s Fair organized today by electing Secretary Seward Chairman, and Mr. Kennedy Superintendent of the Census Bureau, Secretary of the thirteen Commissioners. Edward Everett was the only Commissioner absent. He sent a letter of excuse. A committee was appointed to wait on the President with a request that he send a national vessel to England to convey such goods as the American contributors may desire to exhibit.

PROPOSED NIGHT MAIL FROM WASHINGTON

The meeting of Railroad officers with Postmaster Blair today, is to propose to run a night mail train to New York, starting at 6 o’clock in the evening and reaching New York at 6 o’clock in the morning.

GOOD REASONS FOR PREFERRING SECESSION

The present rebellion, besides being headed by a leading advocate and defender of repudiation, would seem to be almost as much the work of insolvents and defaulters as the conspiracy of Catiline.  The more we learn of its history, the more close seems to be its connection with financial dishonesty, from men like John B. Floyd down.

Te latest case is that of Mr. Haldman, publisher of the Louisville Courier, which was lately suspended for its treasonable course. Haldman has now gone into Tennessee and defends in arms the cause which he aided as long as he could by the journal which he published. He now says that he will return to Louisville when the confederates take that city. The Louisville Journal thinks that there is good reason for this, for it is found that as Surveyor of the Customs in Louisville, he had confiscated ten or twelve thousand dollars of the public money to his own use. As the punishment of this crime is imprisonment for a term of years in the penitentiary, he will unquestionably give Louisville a wide berth so long as the authority of the United States shall exist there.

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Amusements—The very interesting drama, “Great Expectations,” will be repeated tonight, at the Museum. The farce of “John Woppe” will be given in connection with it.

A new program is offered at the Academy tonight. Miss Daly appears in the farces of “Fool of the Family” and “Our Gal,” and Señorita Cubas in two attractive ballets.

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Temporary Substitute for Army Blankets—It has been suggested that as a substitute for army blankets, carpeting of the proper texture can be used and can be obtained for the purpose in any amount required. We have seen some blankets made up in this way, which were two yards and a half long and two breadths wide, and weighed five pounds and ten ounces, or six pounds and four ounces according to the quality. The standard weight of the army blanket is five pounds.

This substitute is not proposed as an article superior for permanent use to the army blanket, but as something which can be easily brought into use to any desired extent to meet an emergency like the present, and which, in warmth, power to resist moisture, and strength, will be superior to many of the light and partially worn blankets which the government is now receiving from private families.

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The Potomac flotilla has never been so effective as now. As soon as night comes on whole fleets of boats float away with muffled oars, creeping along the shores both sides of the river, while small propellers, like the Resolute and Reliance, proceed noiselessly down the channel, on watch for anything that, in the darkness of the night, might escape the vigilance of the armed boats along the shore. The shores themselves seem to partake of  the animus of the inhabitants, not a gleam of light is to be seen;  every thing is dark and gloomy enough to be typical of the treason and treachery which pervade the inhabitants.

WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 16, 1861
NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

IMPORTANT FROM HATTERAS
REBEL ATTACK ON AN INDIANA REGIMENT.
THEY CAPTURE 70 MEN
NAVAL ATTACK ON THE REBELS—COMPLETE SUCCESS!
200 KILLED AND WOUNDED

Fortress Monroe, Oct. 8—The frigate Susquehanna has arrived from Hatteras Inlet. She brings most interesting intelligence.

The day after the capture of the Fanny, the Iris and Huntman, having one of the launches of the Susquehanna in tow, went up to Chicomecomico and landed 7 days’ provisions, returning the same evening without having seen anything of the rebels. On Friday however word reached Hatteras Inlet by the Stars and Stripes, that a force of 2500 rebels, consisting of Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia Regiments, had come over from the main land in six small steamers and schooners, with flat-boats, and had attacked the Indiana Regiment, who were obliged to retreat.

The Susquehanna and Monticello steamed up outside, while Col. Hawkins marched up with six companies, and reached Hatteras Light by night fall—a distance of thirteen miles.

During the night Colonel Hawkins was joined by the Twentieth Indiana Regiment, who had passed in the darkness a large body of Rebels who had landed for the purpose of cutting the off.

Colonel Brown reported a loss of fifty (50) men as prisoners, composing his sick and wounded, twenty pickets, who could not be called in. He succeeded in saving his tents, provisions, &c.

Saturday morning the Monticello steamed round the Cape, and a few miles up the coast met the Rebels marching down the narrow neck of land to attack our troops.

The Rebel steamers were also landing men to co-operate with them. They were in easy range and the Monticello opened upon them with shells of five second fuse, 218 of which were fired from three guns in three hours and thirty minutes, doing great execution.

The Rebels at first tried to shelter themselves behind a sand hill, and then in a narrow copse, but soon broke in every direction, and took refuge upon their vessels. A shell passed through the wheel-house of the Fanny, which was already employed against us.

It is supposed their loss must have reached between two and three hundred killed and wounded.

During the engagement a member of the Indiana regiment who had been taken by the rebels, managed to break the rope with which he was tied and escaped. He took to the surf, and was picked up by a boat from the Monticello. He reports that the first shot from her killed Colonel Bartow of the Georgia regiment, and the havoc was frightful. He also reports that when he escaped he killed a Confederate captain with his revolver.

Upon the withdrawal of the rebels, the Monticello and Susquehanna and the land forces returned to Hatteras Inlet.

Lieutenant Burkhead of the Susquehanna, from whom the above account is obtained, thinks no advance can be made from the Inlet without the support of a fleet of light draught vessels, and our forces at the Inlet should be speedily increased.

The S. R. Spaulding arrived at the Inlet on the 7^th with Gen. Mansfield, and landed her men and stores.

Too much praise cannot be accorded Lt. Braine of the Monticello for this brilliant achievement, which caused great exultation at Old Point.

Col. Brown narrowly escaped with the Indiana Regiment. He was shelled from a rebel vessel, and their troops were landed above and below him, yet he managed to escape with little loss. Particulars of this of his masterly movement are not yet received.

GENERAL MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

No less than a dozen regimental postmasters have been detected in purloining letters belonging to soldiers.

The estimated value of Yankee property in Va., confiscated by the rebels, amounts to $30,000,000.

The Nashua Manufacturing Company have contracted with government to furnish three hundred thousand cotton flannel drawers. This will furnish good employment for large numbers. They are all to be sewed by hand.

The army of the Potomac has created an immense business for Washington. New stores have been opened, building is going on in various sections of the city, and streets that were dormant and inactive for years, now resound with the hum of lively, profitable trade.

Reporters Threatened—A United States Captain has threatened, by authority, the local reporters of New York with incarceration in Fort Lafayette, if they report naval movements at that port.

A man occupies in the ranks a front of twenty inches; a continuous line of 50,000 men, therefore, is nearly sixteen miles long.

The Herald’s Washington dispatch says the late rains have swollen the Upper Potomac to fifteen feet above a fordable depth, thus rendering all movements of either army across the river impossible.

A Singular Antidote for the Jaundice—The medical officer of the Sherborn district, England, lately stated in a note to the Board of Guardians that “a woman came near losing her life by taking the following mixture, which had been recommended to her by a neighbor for the cure of the jaundice, namely, an old horse-shoe boiled in a pint of strong beer.”

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Bad Pennies Returned—Three army wagon loads of female camp followers were recently expelled from Gen. Banks’ camp, near Darnestown, Md., their presence having become inconvenient. They were moved in the direction of Washington.

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The Backwardness of the East—The Chicago Tribune, the leading Republican paper in Illinois, is very severe upon the Northeast for their backwardness in not coming forward with troops for the war. We quote it, says the Cincinnati Enquirer, with no intention to endorse its extreme asperity and bitterness, but simply to show the feeling that is being elicited in some parts of the country. The Tribune says:

“The West will demand, not for the purpose of compelling her own sons to do their duty, but for securing to the army of the East the services of cowardly and unpatriotic New England, New York and Pennsylvania, that the work of drafting be at once begun. But in this heavy draft made upon us in the face of imminent danger, there is this consolation: with our brave boys in the van of McClellan’s army, there will be no more such pitiable exhibitions as we saw at Big Bethel and Bull Run. They will teach your Fire Zouaves and such like cattle the art of war. But if for nothing else, let the East be subjected to draft for men to carry our men’s luggage and to serve as cooks in camp.”

THURSDAY
OCTOBER 17, 1861
BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

SLAVERY AND THE WAR

St. Louis Evening News, Oct. 10—The pain with which we have watched the attempt by radial partisans at the North to make the great war for the Union a fierce and revengeful war for emancipation, and the earnestness with which we have endeavored to combat the scheme—are not inspired by any sentimental love for African slavery, nor by any sensitive regard for the rights of the South; but by a sincere love for the Union, and a desire to prevent the intrusion into the struggle of elements that will embarrass its friends and jeopardy its existence.

We desire to let slavery take care of itself—to leave it to circumstances. If it is to perish in the course of this war, let it perish, and the consequences be upon the heads of those who imperilled it by commencement of a wanton revolt. But we would not have its overthrow made an object of the war, because that would add to the difficulties and embarrassments of the struggle, by uniting the South and dividing the North, and rendering the ultimate issue uncertain; and, in addition to this, it would leave on our hand, after the war, a question not inferior in magnitude and importance to the war itself—the question of what to do with four million ignorant, barbarous freed Africans?

ENDURANCE ON THE MARCH

A great deal has been said as to the hardships of our troops in the way of marching. On the march to Bull Run, it will be remembered, General McDowell found that the very first day’s march of six miles told heavily on his men, while the necessity of marching on the morning of the 21^st from Centreville to Bull Run has been assigned as an important cause of our defeat. This was simply because the troops were raw, and not because the distance was anything that ought to trouble a well trained soldier or anybody else. We hope that the army knows the use of its legs better now than it did then.

As an example of what troops are sometimes expected to do, and of what they have actually done in the way of marching, there is a striking illustration in the history of Napoleon’s Italian campaign of 1797. It was his desire to effect a junction with Jonbert and defeat the Austrians at Rivoli. He therefore took Massena’s division, which had been fighting at Verona on the 13^th of January, and marched that night to Rivoli, at least fifteen miles distant. They fought and conquered the Austrians at Rivoli on the 14^th, Massena’s division doing some of the hardest of the fighting. The battle lasted nearly all day, and at night Napoleon set out with the same men for a still longer march to Mantua. “These brave soldiers,” says Thiers, “with joyful faces and reckoning upon fresh victories, seemed not to feel fatigue. They flew, rather than marched, to cover Mantua. They were fourteen leagues from that city!” To march all night, to fight all day, and then to march for another night, did not even seem a hardship, to the men into whom Napoleon had infused his spirit. Is the spirit which animates our troops today less inspiring than that which filled the followers of Napoleon?

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6635 Prussian muskets, a present from the Prussian Government to the city of Philadelphia, were taken to that city on Tuesday night. They arrived in the steamship Bavaria.

PATRICK HENRY ON SECESSION

The National Intelligencer recalls a remarkable testimony by Patrick Henry against the doctrine of secession. That great man, as is well known, opposed the adoption of the Constitution, and set forth his chief objection as follows:

“Have they said ‘We the States?’ Have they made a proposal of a compact between States? If they had, this would be a Confederation, it is, otherwise, most clearly a consolidated Government. The whole question turns, sir, on that poor little thing, the expression, ‘We the people,’ instead of ‘the States’ of America.”

Virginia decided, however, to become a State of the Union, and thereupon Mr. Henry became a candid supporter of the Washington policy, and opposed the “ambiguous treason” of the celebrated “revolution of 1798.” On that issue he was a candidate for the Virginia Assembly in 1799, and was triumphantly elected, but died before the opening of the regular session. In the course of his canvass, according to Wirt, he addressed the people of his county, and in the course of his speech asked “whether the county of Charlotte would have any authority to depute an obedience to the laws of Virginia? And he pronounced Virginia to be to the Union what the county of Charlotte was to her.”

It thus appears that Patrick Henry “could not, after its adoption, bring himself to construe the Constitution of the United States into something different from what he had thought the instrument to be before its adoption.”

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Confiscated Vessels—The Secretary of the Treasury has much facilitated the matter of ascertaining the interests of loyal persons who are joint owners with rebels of vessels that have been seized by the Government officers. Heretofore the evidence of loyalty and ownership has been taken under orders of the Court, which necessarily subjected the owners to great delay and enormous costs. By the Secretary’s orders, the evidence will hereafter be made to the Collectors of the several ports, and a synopsis sent by them directly to the Secretary. Upon this evidence, thus taken and submitted, the Secretary will determine upon the justice and policy of releasing the seizure.

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Baltimore Steamers—The steamer Baltimore, which lately plied between Baltimore and Havana, has been chartered by the Merchants’ and Miners’ Transportation Company, to run between this city and Baltimore, their own steamers being chartered to the government. The Baltimore will leave Baltimore for this port on Saturday next.

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The California papers say that the expedition fitting out there under Gen. Sumner will march through northern Mexico into Texas, simultaneously with an invasion of Texas on the Gulf side, thus giving the Union men of Texas an opportunity to rise.

FRIDAY
OCTOBER 18, 1861
THE FARMERS' CABINET (NH)

REVIEW OF THE WEEK

So quietly has passed this week under review, that we are almost inclined to ask, “Have we any war?” The papers have become decidedly lifeless, and the newsboys in the cities have hard work to get up a selling sensation.

The only kind of a sensation in or around Washington was on Saturday afternoon, when the foremost pickets of Gen. Smith, near Lewinsville, were driven in, and a body of rebels appeared a mile and a half from that place. It was thought that the enemy was about to give battle in force. The whole of Gen. Smith’s Division was t once put under arms. Gen. McClellan was informed by telegraph of the posture of affairs. The entire army of the Potomac was placed in readiness for immediate service, the Staff officers of the General commanding were summoned from Washington, and all was activity and excitement. After a short time, however, it became manifest that the rebels would not fight, and matters resumed their quiet aspect. The celerity and ardor shown by our troops in preparing for action was cheering, however, and gave good promise for the time, if it ever comes, when the enemy shall venture to make the attack with which they now occasionally threaten the National lines.

On Friday, before daylight, Lieut. Howell, of the U.S. steamer Union, at Acquia Creek, having heard that a rebel schooner was lying in Quantico Creek, and knowing that a large number of troops were collected at that point with the probable design of crossing the Potomac, set out with his boat and two launches for the purpose of burning her. As the little force neared the vessel, the sentinel in charge of her fled, giving the alarm. The light furniture was collected in the cabinet, and the vessel was fired. The flames enabled the enemy to see the retiring boats, and a sharp fire was directed toward them; the boats were repeatedly hit, and even the clothes of the men perforated, but no one was hurt. The schooner was completely destroyed.

A  BRAVE VOLUNTEER ON DESPERATE SERVICE

Shortly after the battle of Carnifax Ferry, communication was cut off between the federal camp at Elkwater and that at Cheat Mountain summit, the rebels holding possession of the road.  It was necessary that communication should be re-established between Gen. Reynolds at the former place and Col. Kimball at the latter. Several attempts have been made, but the messenger had been killed in every case.  Four had already set out and had been picked off. The whole camp at Elkwater was in danger, and it was necessary to get word to the summit at once, and another young man volunteered, but he, too, was never heard from after he left camp. The commanding officer then stated to his man their danger, and called upon some one to again a volunteer to perform the risk.  Not a man responded in all the camp, until at last one was found in Capt. Loomis’ Michigan battery. Henry H. Norrington of Detroit, offered to peril his life to save the others. He started out and succeeded in eluding the enemy, crawling miles up on his hands and knees, with his messages rolled up and in his mouth ready to swallow in a moment if he was taken, and finally we each the friendly camp. He also had to return, and, after receiving his dispatches, set out in the night, the whole camp shaking hands with him, never expecting to see him again. He travelled all night, guided by the North star, and the next day crawled as before on his hands and knees. He finally struck the main road a few miles below Elkwater. Seeing one of the enemy’s cavalry horses tied to a stake by the roadside, and the owner not visible, he crept up, cut the rope with his knife, and rode off into hot

based with several shots whizzing around him. He arrived safely in camp and delivered his dispatches, be the only survivor of the six that had attempted the perilous task. As a reward for his bravery and daring, he was promoted in the company to be chief of a piece, and was placed upon the commanding general’s staff as Mounted Orderly. He was presented by the captain of his company with a sword, and by the general with an elegant revolver. He was greeted upon parade by nine cheers from the entire command, and his pay more than doubled. Besides this, favorable mention was made of his feat and the great service he had performed, in the official report forwarded to the Department at Washington.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION

The opinion seems to be gaining ground that, at the last moment, if needed in self defense, the rebels will proclaim emancipation. This was the policy proposed by the government in Cuba, if necessary to arrest the filibusters of Lopez or of the United States. The intelligent Baltimore correspondent of the New York Tribune says that a similar policy will be adopted by the South.

When Gen. Toombs made his speech against the increase of the army, in the Senate, two years ago, he warned the North that the South held the institution of slavery in its own hands, and that if events should justify it, the slave States would anticipate outside pressure, and, by a sweeping act of emancipation, convert the slave into a friend of the South. The secessionists of the more ardent sort in this city do not hesitate to assert that this will be the policy of the South, as the war progresses, rather than suffer the rebellion to be put down. They are free to admit that a vigorous prosecution of Fremont’s policy would speedily end the rebellion, and hence their joy at its modification.

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The course of the south seems to be suicidal in more respects than one. If cotton is King, which we by no means admit, he is not so strongly enthroned in the South, but that he may desert them in their extremity. The British government is making great exertions to procure supplies of the article from and through Egypt, and has negotiated a new treaty to this end. And if all accounts are true, King cotton may ere long remove his throne to the region of loyalty. Capt. R.  C. Kendall, formerly of the U. S.  Coast Survey, who is the discoverer of the perennial cotton tree that will flourish in cold climates, predicts that “the period is not very remote when hedges, most efficient as fences, shall yield annual dividends of cotton; ornamental trees, blending the useful with a beautiful, shall repay ten fold their cost and the undulating prairies of the Great West, shall gleam in the sunlight, white as the winter drift, with generous pods of Democratic cotton.” This is a glowing prospect, but if only part of it shall be realized, the consequences cannot be easily estimated.

There seems to be apprehensions felt that their King is in danger of being taken prisoner, as the local authorities in Southern cities are exerting themselves to prevent the accumulation of cotton in any one place. The Memphis Appeal, and it’s the issue of the 2d inst., says that the evils attending the accumulation of cotton at this were any other point, are considered too obvious to need pointing out.  There is evidently a fear existing that a United States expedition down the Mississippi may prove successful, in which case, cotton gathered at Memphis or elsewhere would fall into the hands of our army.

SATURDAY
OCTOBER 19, 1861
THE PORTLAND  (ME) DAILY ADVERTISER

WAR FACTS AND RUMORS

New York, Oct. 18—The Herald’s Washington dispatch states that the rebels called in all their pickets to-day, deserted Vienna, tore up the track of the Loudon & Hampshire R. R., and fell back with their entire column on Fairfax Court House.

A dispatch to General McClellan says the rebels are retiring from the Leesburg, and have prepared for a speedy withdrawal of their whole force. It is thought that this falling back is only the taking of a choice of Bull Run again as a battle field which has so many natural advantages.

Deserters from Leesburg state the rebels are totally demoralized and can not hold together long.

A merchant just from Texas states that there is great distress there; provisions are exorbitantly high at Galveston.

The announcement of expeditions being fitted out for the Southern coast created great alarm there, and a delegation has been sent to New Orleans to procure cannon.

The rebels are compelled to keep a large force at San Antonio, on account of the restiveness of the Union Germans, who have frequently been compelled to haul down the American flag at the point of the bayonet.

The Times Washington dispatch state that the rebel line now extends from Acquia Creek in a northwesterly direction to a gap in the Blue Ridge a little west of Manassas Gap.

The same paper has additional particulars of the affair at New Orleans. It says that the Turtle, an iron clad steamer, ran against the Preble without firing a gun, immediately sinking her.

The balls from the whole federal fleet glanced from her. The Turtle then turned towards the other two vessels, who got ashore in endeavoring to escape, their crews deserting them. Hollins says he will be able to capture and bring them to New Orleans. The Preble cannot be raised.

A large number of prisoners, arms and ammunition, &c., were taken during the action. New Orleans was illuminated on receipt of the intelligence.

MESSAGE FROM BRIGHAM YOUNG

Cleveland, Oct. 18—The following is the first message over the Pacific telegraph line.  It was received this evening:

Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 18—Hon. J. H. Wade, President of the Pacific Telegraph, Sir: permit me to congratulate you on the completion of the overland telegraph line west to this city, to command the energy displayed by yourself and associates in the rapid and successful prosecution of a work so beneficial, and to express the wish that its use mate ever tend to promote the true interests of the dwellers on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of our continent. Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country, and is warmly interested in such successful enterprises as the one so far completed.

(Signed) Brigham Young.

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There are four millions of bushels of grain steadily afloat from day to day, in transit on the canals of the State of New York.

The number of immigrants arrived at New York, last week, was 906—total since January 1^st, 50,467.

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The exports of breadstuffs from this country to Europe continue to increase. The shipment from the port of New York Monday last reached the enormous amount of 332,736 bushels of grain, and 22,734 barrels of flour—the greater part of which goes to France. This is probably a larger amount than was ever shipped before from any port in this country in one day.

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They know all about our “great expedition” down South, and are preparing to resist. For this information they are indebted to sensation New York papers.

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The Reporter notices considerable activity in the Boston boot and shoe market—for army shoes and cavalry boots—and the manufacturers are straining to meet the demand. Total shipments of boots and shoes by rail and sea, for the week, 14,447 cases.

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Baltimore, Oct. 18—A gentleman direct from Harper’s Ferry announces that the rebels again appeared on Linden and Bolivar Heights this morning, and renewed the attack on the Union forces under Maj. Gould, with artillery. Maj. Gould fired upon them with canister from the Columbiad captured on Tuesday, and drove them back, but not until the vandals had burnt the mill of A. R. Herr, and took the miller prisoner, who they charged with giving information to the Union troops of the 12,000 bushels of wheat being brought there to grind.

The firing was progressing when our informant left. Women and children were fleeing in great terror to [the] Maryland shore, in anticipation of being burned. Maj. Gould was throwing shot and shell from Maryland Heights, and was confident that he could keep them off until reinforcements could reach him.

Col. Geary’s wound is only a slight cut in the calf of the leg, from the explosion of a shell.

The schooner Beverly, which was captured by the gunboat Gemsbok, arrived here to-day. She belonged to Nova Scotia, and has a cargo of salt fish.

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Portsmouth Chronicle--The U. S. ship Constellation, which has been in dock but a day or two at the Navy Yard here for examination, we learn is to come out two day—being found to need a little or no repairs. The Portsmouth, we hear, is not to be docked at all—and both vessels will be ready for sea again in a few days.

The machinery for the Kearsarge is being unloaded from the schooner which brought it; in which work all the riggers are employed—under charge of Messrs. Deering and Yeaton. The heaviest piece weighing 43 tons—but the derrick will swing 100 tons or more.