AMERICA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 163, 26 February 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

AMERICA.

. . New York, Dec. 16. President Lincoln is reported convalescent, although unable to leave his chamber. Both Houses of Congress met on the 7th December. President Davis speaks despondingly of the loss of. Vicksburg, Fort Hudson, and other positions. His message characterised the conduct of the European nations as positively unfriendly, and says the partiality of England for the Federals has been strongly marked in the decisions regarding the blockade. He recommends taxation, the abolition of the substitute system, and modification of the exemption law for the purpose of

rapidly and largely increasing the army. President Lincoln’s message is warlike in tone. Ho holds out no hopes of a speedy termination of the war, and pledges himself to continue it. He says the rebellion is pressed within the narrowest limits. He offers an amnesty to all the people of the South, excepting the heads of the Government and the higher ranks of the army, and it was on condition that they swear to support the Constitution and Union, the Acts of the' Congress, and all proclamations of the President made during the war. He says the chief care of the Government must be the army. Mr. Chase estimates the Government expenditure for the ensuing year at nearly 752,000,000 dollars. _The receipts will be hearty 208,000,000 dollars. He proposes that the deficiencies should be supplied through loan. On the 23rd November, Grant made a reconnaisance and discovered Bragg’s army falling back on Chickamanga. On the 25th he advanced his whole lines, and attacked the right and left of the Confederates simultaneously. Two Federal divisions were twice repulsed, but eventually the Confederates abandoned their position. The Federals took 6000 prisoners and 60 cannons. The Confederates rallied at Dalton, and the Federals showed an indisposition to attack them there. The Southern despatches from Dalton say that the Federal cavalry have been driven back beyond Ringold. The Federal troops were routed at Somerville, Kentucky, with the loss of numerous prisoners. General Morgan, the Confederate Guerilla chief, and six officers, have escaped from Ohio Penitentiary, having by two weeks’ patient labor dug through the floor of their cells with pocket knives. Federal reinforcements from Chattanooga, arrived at Knoxville on the 6th December, compeling Longstreet to retire. The Federal army has gone into winter quarters.' The bombardment of Charleston has little.effect. Over two hundred vessels are engaged in raising the blockade of Wilmington. The Contederate raid in Kentucky resulted in the capture of horses and 10,000 dollars in greenbacks. General Washburn reports the capture of Fort Esperanza in Texas. The Confederates spiked the guns, blew up the magazine, and evacuated the fort before the Federals occupied it. The Federal Government still refused to exchange prisoners until the Confederate Government agree to exchange the colored troops. fhe merchant steamer Chesapeake was seized while on a voyage from New York to Portland by 16 Confederate passengers. An engineer was killed, and the chief mate severely wounded. Alter gaining possession the Confederates started to St. John’s, New Brunswick, and landed all but the captain and chief engineer : they then sailed eastward. Several Federal steamers have been sent in pursuit. Ihe Confederate General Dick Taylor, with 10,000 men, was patrolling the Mississippi banks, causing an almost entire cessation of traffic. Not a steamer passes without being attacked at some point, and the vessel rarely escapes without disaster. The steamer Fanny WBride, valued at 30,000 dollars, was sunk below Fort Pillon. The Confederates have made a raid on Memphis and Charleston railroad, at Pocahontas, capturing 400 and 300 Federals.