AMERICA.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1726, 24 September 1862, Page 5

AMERICA.

GREAT BATTLE BEFORE RICHMOND. [From the " Home News," July 2fi.]

We have this month to report the occurrence before Richmond of a series of six days of battle—from June 25th to July 2nd—with such dreadful carnage as if scarcely known in modern times. At the date of our last publication, while M'Clellan was cautiously continuing his preparations against Richmond, Beauregard was was announced to have suddenly evacuated his position at Corinth in Tennessee, but whither he had gone was merely matter of conjecture. It is now clear that at that time Beauregard had been summoned to join the army under the direction of Jefferson Davis, while other outlying Confederate contingents were required to do the same. By this rapid concentration, skilfully executed and daringly used at a moment when the unsustaincd force under M'Clellan found itself compelled to abandon the right bank of the Chickahominy, it was confidently expected that the capital of Virginia might bo delivered from the threatening presence of the Federalists. The great blow was struck, and as far as success on the battlefield was concerned the Confederates were successful. But M'Clellan was able at last to take up a strong position on the James River, where his gunboats were at hand. This alone saved the Federal army from utter destruction. At one time M'Clellan was reported to be a fugitive, and his whole force pressed to the necessity of a surrender. This has been contradicted by more recent advices, yet it may at one period have seemed imminent. Our latest news represents the Federals as putting the best face possible on matters, and as being still sanguine of ultimate victory. Nevertheless, the siege of Richmond may be regarded as being over, at least for some time. The total inability of the present forces of the Federals, gigantic as even after their recent reverses they still an, to subjugate the South, may be understood from the fact that President Lincoln has called for a new levy of 300,000 men. „ „ . ~ Whatever may be the effect of the succession of battles at Richmond upon the Federal temperament, there can be but little doubt of the enormous moral strength they will confer on the Confederate cause. Already we have signs of this, and each mail may be expected to bring us some palpable evidence of the invigorating influence upon the doings of the Southerns. The most ardent friends of the Federalists do not now contend that General M'Clellan can make any serious move for some time to come, from the point to which ho has been driven, without reinforcements enabling him to make up for the daily loss he encounters from disease. To give him these reinforcements, the Federal strength in other places must be reduced. The operations against Charleston have failed; and that circumstance has already given M'Clellan a timely contribution, and 30,000 men from General Halleck's army are on their way to join. By what amount this may really strengthen him it is difficult to say; but, considering the difficulties of the march from the West, and the season, it is no illiberal computation to assume that not more than one half will reach him in condition to bo of use in the field. Be this as it may, it is clear that General Halleck's force will be weakened by 30 000, and such a loss will make a great difference in the Confederate prospects in the far South and West. The Federal successes in Kentucky and Tennessee bid fair to be neutralised. Vicksburgh is not taken, and Baton Rouge has been recaptured by the Confederates, who will thus gain a footing on the Lower Mississippi, which may well embarrass the Northern generals in that quarter. With the great moral effect of the victories over M'Clellan. and the excitement caused in Kentucky and Tennessee by the abolitionist proceedings in the North, the difficulties of the Federals may ta«tf be ejtpeeted to in«re«is<

Subjoined are detailed accounts of the above important events:—

The following letter, dated July 4th, is from the New York correspondent of the Times: —" New York was yesterday in a state of panic. The facts relative to ] General M'Clellan, and the series of bloody battles on the I Chickahominy, as published in the newspapers—all the correspondents agreeing in the main incidents—threw I a gloom over the whole city. The struggle that commenced on Wednesday, June 25, and was continued •icvery subsequent day until Tuesday, -July 1, and may have been renewed at this hour, is one of the most , obstinatcd recorded in the history of any people. The details of the carnage are sickening to read of. Mr. Secretary Stanton, though he would allow nono of the facts to be transmitted by telegraph, is not yet the lord and master of the post-office. He permitted the one agency to designate the result as " a substantial victory" for the Union arms; a piece of ambiguity that set the public thinking, and that alarmed Wallstreet so much as to send down the prices of government and every other kind of stock. The United States' Six per Ceut. Bonds of 1881 fell two per cent.: the 7 30 Treasury Bonds 5 per cent.; and every kind of railway and other share partook of the contagion of consternation, nad receded from three to six per cent. The post-office, over which the govern-1 ment exercises no discretionary power, represented the matter in a clearer light. Newspaper reports and private letters confirmed and augmented the bad im- ( prcssiou produced by the War Secretary's telegram, and showed M'Clellan to have been out-generalled as well as out-numbered; to have taken up, in the first instance, an untenable as well as a most unhealthy position in the swamps between the Pamunkey and the Chickahominy and in shifting his base of operations to the line between the Chickahominy and the James River, to have lost upwards of 20,000 men; and this, not according to the report of his opponents, but by the confession of his own friends —spectators of the series of bloodv encounters by which the change was effected. His army is represented to have numbered 95,000 men, so that his forces were doubly, or more than duobly, decimated. One men out of every five in his army was either killed, wounded, a prisoner, or a deserter, and the whole force only escaped annihilation by consummate luck rather than consummate skill. The Federals, brave as they were, do not appear to have fought with the desperate yet orderly courage of the Confederates on any one day of the murderous Btruggle, if the reports of the Federals themselves are to be depended upon; and as yet no statement has come from Richmond to throw a light on the tardy but great success which rewarded the Confederate cause. The two most furious battles of the series appear to have been fought on Friday, the 27th, and on Monday, the 30th of June. Friday's battle was fought at a place called Gaines' bill—a mill; where a panic, almost equal to that of Bull Run, was, with the greatest difficulty, prevented. ' Scores of gallant officers,' says the Tribume's correspondent, ' endeavoured to rally and re-form the stragglers, but in vain; while many officers forgot the pride of their shoulder straps, and "the honour of their manhood, and herded with sneaks and cowards.' Elsewhere, the same correspondent speaks of the 'frightened host,' and the 'poor bewildered men;' and can oniy add, in extenuation of their panic, that they had to fight as one against three. • The rout at last became general, in spite of the exertions of the Prince de Joinville, General Bntterfield, and others, to turn the tide. Several officers actually discharged their revolvers at their own soldiers to prevent the rout. Hut all was in vain. The division was beaten, and the men knew it. In their desperation they seem to have thoughtthat they might as well die by'the hand of their own officers as by that of the enemy, and resisted all threats as well as all blandishments to renew the hopeless fight. On Saturday, the 28th of June, the baggage trains of the army were started through the dense forest called ' White Oak Swamp,' and the army continued its retreat, harrassed at every step by the fire of the relentless enemy. ' Sunday morning came,' says another correspondent who witnessed what he describes, ' and soon brought with it a strange stampede of hundreds of mule teams with their waggons attached. The terror that impelled the mass into frantic motion was electric from one end of the line to the other. At the same instant, and with the square front of a cavalry brigade, these obstinate animals, coupled by sixes, charged forward, scattering drivers, soldiers, and officers. The thunder of the waggons and the cries of the teamsters, misunderstood by the soldiers in advance, shook the nerves of the timid, and in a moment there arose the demoralizing cry, " The rebels are coming." ' Here, too, the officers were among the first to run, and the correspondent indignantly adds that' if he knew the names of any of them he would certainly publish them.' And how did the Confederates behave? Mark me, Northern friends,' says the same eyewitness, ' the rebels fight with a desperate courage. They go with orderly joy upon the muzzles of our guns. Neither French nor British infantry ever charged field batteries with steadier fury.' And whence, it may be asked, comes the difference between the two? The Northerners—so many of whom are not Americans, but Irish and Germans—fight for pay, and have no real or abiding interest in the struggle. The Southerners, on the other hand, fight with indomitable pride and hate, for home, for country, for their invaded soil, for liberty and independence. This is an element of the conflict that the Federal government ought to understand, and which, if thoroughly present to the minds of the Northern people, ought to predispose them, even at this last hour, to receive with gratitude the friendly offices of any European power that shall be generous and chivalrous enough to help them to untie the knot which their swords cannot cut through, and solve a difficulty that will admit of no other solution so little galling to their pride or so little perilous to their future happiness as a nation.

"The battle of which a detailed account has been received was on Monday, June 30. It is described as the most terrific of the scies, and to have cost the Confederates 4000 men in killed and wounded. They have no deserters. No estimate has been made of the Federal loss, but it must have been at least equal to that of the foe, and was probably superior, for General M'Clellan had to leave his dead and wounded in the possession of the enemy, and to spike bis siege guns and leave them on the field after burning the carriages, circumstances that are not consistent with any explanation save that of an overwhelming defeat. A later despatch from General M'Clellan to the War-office, brought by Prince dc Joinville, and dared on Wednesday, July 2, reported that he bad made good his new position on the bank of the James Kiver on Tuesday, Julyl; that his men had behaved splendidly, and that be had only lost one gun. People willing to be comforted, and to look at the bright side of things plucked up their spirits at this news; Wall-street took heart of grace, and stocks went slowly up again, though not to their former height. On Wednesday, the 2nd, and Thursday the 3rd, the fighting was not renewed.

" And it was while this news was fresh in the public mind, while everyone in New York was devouring the newspapers with grief and rage, some,perhaps, not without secret joy,that the great holiday of the Americans was celebrated. At the time at which I wane, this memorable day —the 4th of July, the anniversary of national independence, the day by which it was fondly hoped the great rebellion would be crushed for ever; the day upon which vengeance was to be taken on the Southern leaders, and the hand of forgiveness to be stretched out to the Southern people, has come and almost gone. But, alas for the pride of the North! It has not fulfilled any of the hopes in which its people indulged, even so lately as a month ago, or verified any of the prophecies which the statesmen of Washington have not wearied of uttering for the last twelvemonth. If it did not dawn upon an overpowering and decisive defeat, it dawned upon a costly reverse and a sad humiliation. Did any loyal American, as loyalty is understood by the Federal party, ask himself this glorious 4th of July what the day meant? Did he reflect that "Independence Day," as it is called, was but the commemoration of an act of treason that, in being successful, acquired the high name of patriotism? Did he remember that New York and the North stand in a position similar to that occupied by George 111. and his ministers; and are engaged, as he was, in combating what is called a " rebellion,' though not by so strictly legal aright as George Ill.had to employ the word ? Perhaps not. The people celebrated the day in the customary manner, with parade of soldiers, with salvos of artillery, with drum and fife, and martial music, with waving flags, with frantic oratory, and superabundant ' Buncombe,' and with displays of fireworks in the streets and squares, for the delight of small boys and drunken ' rowdies,' but to the sore annoyance of every one else, and not less so because paid tor at the public expense, and costing 8000 dollars. How the day was passed in the .South will be known hereafter. The Southern leaders and people no doubt remembered that what George Washington and his fellow-patriots were, 86 years ago, they are now; that as he fought they are fighting; that they owe no such allegiance to the Federal Power as their forefathers owed to the King of England; that as Washington's great enterprise might have failed had it not been for the aid afforded by a foreign power, so they also, if true to themselves, as lie was, will sooner or later receive the assistance of Europe, or otherwise secure their independence. This heavy and sanguinary blow to the fortunes of the republic, though it allowed children to enjoy the day as if nothing hail happened, deprived it of all heartiness in the eyes of men, and rendered it at the best but a miserable mockery of rejoicing. Every rocket, every Romiin candle, every Catherine-wheel that Vtub employed in celebration of the day wrs ft burning

shame, while 40,000 men, once citizens of the same proud land, lay dead or dying on the battlefield,—the dead unburied, and the dying unattended. Were the Americans not at heart a kindly and patient people, the ciy of indignation that is everywhere heard against the officials who have used their power and influence to cripple and thwart M'Clellan, and so bring upon him and his army the danger of annihilation from which he has not even yet escaped, might cause Mr. Secretary Stanton and others to tremble for their necks or liberty. Even as it is, and with all the toleration that corrupt politicians are apt to feel for those who are only a shade more or less corrupt than themselves, a heavy reckoning will yet be demanded for the disasters of Richmond, unless General M'Clellan should in the j meantime be fortunate enough to retrieve them. But this is not likely. The slow engineering work of the last two months has to be done over again in a new position before Richmond can be captured. But if the Confederate generals have still as much dash in them as they had on Friday and Sunday last, or as General Stonewall Jackson had in the Shenandoah, or Commodore Farragut on the Mississippi, M'Clellan's army may be doomed, notwithstanding all the superior advantages of his new base of operations; and all his splendid engineering may come to naught. "The President's call for 300,000 men is highly approved. But will it be successful in raising the j men? Or, if raised, will the number, large as it is, be ! sufficient to end the war? Tempted by a month's pay in advance, by a personal gratuity of 2 dollars, and by an immediate payment of 26 dollars, on account of the bounty of 100 dollars, amounting altogether to 40 dollars, or £8 English per man, it is possible that 40,000 or 50,000 Americans and 250,000 Irishmen and Germans may present themselves at the recruiting offices. But it will be a long time before such a raw and motley multitude can be converted into an available army, or before experienced officers will be found to lead them into action. Mr. Chase has not been censulted in the matter. Nor was it necessary, 1 Although before such an army can exist, except in regimental rolls, it will cost no less than 11,700,000 dollars, or £2,340,000 sterling—the price of getting the men together; what signifies the cost? Is there not a steam printing-press at Washington printing off paper dollars night and day? And is it not as easy, time 1 being allowed, to print off 100,000,000 as it is 11,000,000? Were the North in danger of invasion by the South, or were there any real peril to the national capital, the President would only have to ask for 500,(100 or 1,000,000 of men, with bounty of gratuity, and they would rise to the stamp of his foot; but it is not quite so certain, even with all the pecuniary inducements, so freely oilercd, that 300,000 men will obey his summons for the invasion of the South. The truth is, that the people are losing heart in the Mar. The difficulty of subjugating the South does not seem to impress them so vividly as it does the government, with the necessity of making effort upon effort, each stronger than the one before it, to bring it to an issue; but, on the contrary, appears to strengthen the idea that subjugation is hopeless, or, if not hopeless, that it is not worth its cost, either in blood or money. For this reason the suggestion is put forward by all who are in favour of war a Voutrance that if the men cannot be raised by voluntary enlistment, sweetened with a liberal bounty money, it will be necessary to resort to a conscription. It is not probable, however, that the government will adopt a course so hazardous. The nation is not in danger. No Power in the world threatens its independence. The only attempts upon its liberty come from within, from such people as General Butler and Secretary Stanton; and a conscription for the sake of conquest is something so new in our day among a free people that anyone may be excused for his incredulity who refuses to believe in it. The suggestion, however, is a sign of the straits to which the North is reduced, notwithstanding its late naval and military successes, and shows how effectually it is undermining its own liberties in the vain attempt to subjugate its neighbours." Four days later the same correspondent writes:— " Last week's series of bloody, and as yet unnamed battles, on the banks of the Pamunkey, the Chickahominy, and the James, will, doubtless, end the summer campaign. General M'Clellan, even should be receive the reinforcements, which the government seem disposed to deny, will have enough to do to intrench himself in the new position, for possession of which he has paid so fearful a price, without assuming the offensive; while the Confederates may well take a little breathing time, before making; another dash on an enemy, supported by a navigable river and a formidable fleet of gunboats. Contrary to general experience, the first hasty reports of the number of killed and wounded in these desperate and savage struggles appear to have been understated. The lists of the Federal losses have not yet been made out, but the opinion of officers accustomed to judge of such matters, and who were present with the army, and shared its terrible experience, is that General M'Clellan's loss will exceed 25,000 men. The Confederates will doubtless endeavour to conceal the extent of their suffering, but, according to all living testimony, and also the silent evidence of the battlefield, it was at least equal to that of their opponents. They refuse to receive flags of truce conveying inquiries relative to the fate of Federal officers supposed to be killed, wounded, or prisoners in their hands, and manifest in other ways a determination to keep their own secrets. It appears that General ' Stonewall' Jackson was their great leader on the occasion, and that he is still alive and well, though reported killed, and that General Magruder was not taken prisoner, as first asserted. General Beauregard was present, and took an active part in all the battles of the week. The people, or at least that portion of them who reside in New York, have somewhat recovered from their panic. Like all other Americans, they are very easily excited and very easily soothed. Last week they believed that M'Clellan had sustained an irretrievable reverse, and that the Federal cause was lost, and all was gloom and consternation. Yesterday and to-day they incline to the opinion that the reverse was substantially a victory ; and that the strength of the Confederates was exhausted in a last great effort which failed of its effect. The colour of the landscape has changed accordingly, and all is bright and joyful. General M'Clellan is equally sanguine. It is not for him ' to say die,' or to breathe a word of complaint or discouragement, lie puts the best face possible upon matters, and could he but take Richmond as gallantly as he says he will do so, he would silence his enemies for ever, besides being available to serve the republic in other battle fields still further to the South. In his address of the 4th of July to the rcmant of his brave host—for brave and heroic they certainly were—he declares that ' the army shall enter the capital of the so-called Confederacy; that our (the Northern) constitution shall prevail ; and that the Union, which can alone secure internal peace and external security to each State, must and shall be preserved, cost what it may in time, treasure, and blood.' These are great words ; but, considering what has passed, it is not safe for any one to prophesy the result of such a war as this—even though the prophet be a general, who may have the will, but who may lack the power to realise his predictions." An eyewitness of the late actions between the Federal and the Confederate armies has furnished the following clear narrative of the important operations which took place between the 26th of June and the Ist of July. It will be seen, of course, that the writer is a strong partisan of General M'Clellan and of the Federal cause:—

In the evening of the 25th of June General M'Clcllan was informed hy estafetlen arriving from several different sides that the Confederate army, which had already been considerably reinforced, was on the point ot effecting a junction with the forces under General Jackson, amounting to 30,000 men, whom that formidable commander, having eluded the loose and ineffectual pursuit of Fremont and M'Dowell, had managed to bring down upon the rear of the army of the Potomac.

This intelligence completely changed the situation of the Federal forces. Opposed to an enemy of such superior strength, General M'Clellan could no longer continue his approaches against Richmond and at the same time maintain his communications with the White House, which obliged him to cover no less than 20 miles of railroad between his advanced positions and that depot. This concentration of the Confederate armies occurred at the most inopportune moment for their antagonists, whose operations had hitherto followed a course apparently calculated to lead to a successful termination. Even as late as the 25th of June the division of General Hooker had fought a spirited and successful engagement, which placed it in possession of an important post beyond Fair Oaks, with a loss of about 400 men. But it was too late to hesitate, or to spend time in unavailing regret for the past. It was necessary to act with promptitude, and to take the most decisive measures to parry the great danger which now menaced the army. Two courses might be adopted. The one was to abandon the operations against Richmond, to cross the Chickahominy, attack Jackson while he was yet unsupported, and then fall back on the White House, and possibly on Yorktown, by a difficult line of retreat, in which great losses must be sustained. The other was to abandon the White House and the communications of the army with the York River, falling back on such fresh communications as could be opened into the James River, under cover of the Federal naval forces. General M'Clellan decided to adopt the second of these alternatives, but the execution of the movement was one of extreme difficulty. The length of the march was not excessive. The distance was only about 17 miles. But it was necessary to convey the whole materiel and baggage of the army by a single road, in bad repair, through a eountry of swamps and forcitsi intersected bynumerotti

lateral routes or tracks converging upon Richmond, by all or any of which the Confederates had it in their power to harass or attack the flank of the retreating columns.

The celerity of General M'Clellan's determination disconcerted the enemy, who probably conjectured that some uncertain movements would be attempted before attempting to operate on the main line of retreat, and doubtless expected that the Federal commander would hesitate before he abandoned his line of communications with the White House.

On the 29th of June the Federal division of General M'Call, posted at Mechanicsville, was attacked by the Confederate forces under General Hill, who had crossed the Chickahominy at Meadow-bridge. A sharp action ensued, but M'Call's line was not broken, although charged with great vehemence by some Louisiana regiments. The reserves of the Federal artillery were brought up, and checked the attack on the right. Meanwhile the Confederates threw considerable reinforcements to the north of the river. This circumstance favored General M'Clellan's views, for he, on the contrary, succeeded in the course of the same night in bringing the whole baggage of his army to the right bank of tho Chickahominy. The right of the Federal army still remained behind. On tho 27th at break of day, M'Call received the order to fall back on the bridges, which the Federals had constructed opposite Gaines Mill, in order, when the whole army had effected its passage, to follow the line of march towards the James River. M'Call, however, was closely pursued by the enemy; but he succeeded in joining the Morrill Division and the divisions of the United States' regulars under General Sykes. This body of troops, commanded by FitzJohn Porter, was ordered to cover the bridges against the advance of the Confederates, in order to gain time. Their orders were to hold the bridges all day, to cross them in the evening of the 27th, and then to destroy them. The Confederates led on their attack, at about 1 o'clock p.m., in three divisions. The corps under Jackson came down from Hanover Court-house in time to join in the action. The battle was fought on an expanse of undulating ground, considerably wooded, but with large intervals of open country. The contest was violent, and for some time the Federals successfully maintained their position, and even at one moment hoped to defeat the enemy. A victory under these circumstances mifiht perhaps have led to decisive results, and it was in this momentary hope that orders were despatched to move forwards to the relief of General Porter all the troops not absolutely indispensable to protect the Federal lines before Richmond—which lines, it may here be remarked, were attacked by the Confederates in the course of the same evening. In consequence of these orders the division of General Howell reached tho field of battle about 4 o'clockp.m., and was instantly engaged. Two brigades of Richardson's division did not arrive till later in tho evening. Meanwhile the Confederates were constantly bringing up more men, and all hope of securing a Federal victory was soon at an end. A balloon reconnoitering in the air continually reported the advance of fresh bodies of Confederate trocps. I galloped across a bridge over the Chickahominy, known as Albermarle-bridgc, and on reaching the ridge of the opposite hills I perceived in the valley below me the whole line of battle, a mile and a-half long, about 35,000 men of the Federal army being there engaged. I could distinctly watch the movements, not only of the corps, but of the officers whom I knew—in pasticular of the young Count de Paris and his brother, the former conspicuous, like his royal ancestor, Henry IV., by a peculiar hat. And here I may add that nothing could exceed the gallantry of these young princes both in the whole course of the action and in their efforts to check the disorder of the subsequent retreat. The Count de Paris was attached to the staff of General Porter, and for upwards of four hours he was constantly exposed to a most severe and murderous fire, from which it is wonderful that he escaped. The Duke de Chartres was ordered to the front with the reinforcements despatched by M'Clellan in the afternoon, and took a most active part in the subsequent events of the day. The firmness displayed by these young officers at the most critical period of the action—when in fact the battle became a defeat, and the retreat a " stampede " —excited the admiration of the Federal army, and entitled them to the public thanks of its commanders. It is fortunate for the princes that their return to Europe, which had already been determined on, irrespective of these events, had not actually taken place, and that they were thus enabled to render services at a moment of great danger to the cause they had espoused. The scene which lay beneath me as I surveyed the field from the position I have described was most imposing, and, I may add, appalling. I watched the renewed assaults of masses o:i infantry, half-concealed by tufts of wood, and supported by the Federal artillery, while the cavalry occupied the valley in reserve, and the setting sun threw its blood-red beams over the dense verdure of the forest and the fluttering pennons of the Lancers. Ht this moment the fire became still more intense at the left centre of the Federal line. Reserves were brought up with loud hurrahs; but the attack gained ground on the left. It was evident that a desperate onslaught on that wing might decide the fate of the day. The Federal forces were all engaged. No more supports came up. It was already past six o'clock, and the day might close before the battle was lost. The efforts of Jackson, Lee, Hill, and Longstreet had thus far been repelled; and as a last resource, while the Federals still held their ground, three flanking batteries of field guns were placed on the extreme left to support the infantry. But the Federal troops were weary, they had been fighting the greater part of the day ; their ammunition was exhausted. The Confederates, on the contrary, brought up fresh regiments against the left of the Federal line, which gave way, fled, and, rushing past the guns, spread disorder through the centre of the army, The enemy hastened forwards. The staff of the generals, with the young princes at their head, plunged into the melee, sword in hand, to stop the fugitives. A standard was planted in the ground, round which a few of the bravest rallied but for a moment. The fire of musketry and heavy guns was such that the projectiles striking the soil raised clouds of dust. At this moment General Cook made a final effort to check the advance of the Confederates, by charging at the head of two cavalry regiments, but in vain; and the Federal troopers, tailing back in clouds of dust and smoke upon the guns, were mistaken by the artillerymen for the enemy, which increased the confusion. The horses were shot down at the guns, while the men still continued to fire with extraordinary gallantry; and almost the last thing I saw in the gathering gloom of that tremendous evening was two men still standing to their gun till the enemy was upon them. At length some officers succeeded in placing three guns in a position which stopped the road, and shelled the advancing columns of the enemy; and at this moment up came Meagher at the head of his Irish brigade, filthily dirty, but full of fighting materials. These troops instantly formed, gave two or three wild Irish cheers, and stopped the pursuing foe. The Federal losses were enormous, and could not be otherwise, in presence of the overwhelming numbers of the Confederates. Sykc's brigade lost half its effective strength. But the loss of the Confederates must also be very great. If two fresh regiments and another battery had come up at the critical moment, the fortune of the day might have been turned and the defeat have been a victory. As it was, nothing availed, and the battle of Gaines Mill was irretrievably lost. On the other hand, the Confederates did not fellow up their success. 35,000 Federals had failed to conquer GO,OOO Confederates, but at least they stopped them. In the course of tho following night the Federal troops recrossed the Chickahominy in good order by the bridges and afterwards destroyed them. They left behind them a field of battle covered with the dead: vast numbers of wounded men, too severely hurt to be removed; a dozen guns, because their horses and artillerymen had been killed; and a certain number of prisoners, among whom was General Reynolds. The same night the corps of General Keyes, which was now the advanced guard of the army, marched forward in the direction of the James River, until it reached a great morass called White Oak Swamp, crossing the road by which the army was about to retreat, as well as the principal roads which converge at Richmond. The 28th and 29th of June were spent in sending forward by this road a convoy of 5000 carts and vehicles with the baggage and materiel of the army, the park of siege artillery; and a herd of 2500 oxen to the James River, a march of infinite difficulty, especially as the general had but one road at his disposal for the whole column.

The 28th passed without molestation. The Confederate forces seemed to be perplexed, and ignorant of the movement which the Federal army was then executing. In fact, the Federal army was then entirely on the right bank of the Chickahominy; while the Confederate army was, for the most part, on the left bank of that river, and the bridges between them were destroyed. For the Confederates to cross they must either have thrown new bridges over it or retired a considerable distance up the stream to Meadow-bridge; cither alternative required time, and time was everything in this emergency to enable the Federal army to continue and effect its retreat. It was not till the evening of the 29 th June that the Confederate columns again fell upon the rear guard of the Federal army. They attacked them in the neighbourhood of Savage's Station, on the Richmond and Yorktown Railway. But these attacks were successfully repelled by Generals Heintzelmann and Franklin. Two Federal generals were, however, wounded at that spot—Burns and Brooks. Night ended the affair. On the 30th of June the array, with its baggage, had

successfully crossed the White Oak Swamp, which then placed another barrier between them and the enemy. Already, on the preceding evening Keycs and Porter, with their respective corps, had marched to"thc James River, and had placed themselves in communication with the flotilla of gunboats on the coast. The convoy followed, but after passing the swamp the negroes who acted as guides to the army pointed out several tracks, and the column was no longer obliged to retreat on a single line. The Federal troops were occasionally harrassed by detachments of cavalry, but they met with no serious opposition. It was to be expected, however, that the Confederates would make another effort to throw their opponents into confusion. General M'Clellan had therefore taken accordingly. He left Franklin and Sumner to defend the passage of White Oak Swamp, and he placed Heintzelmann with the divisions Hooker, Kearney, Sedgwick, and M'Call, on the roads leading to Richmond at a point called Crossroads, where several of these lines meet. Under the protection of these troops the convoy completed its march, and reached the James River precisely at the moment when a fleet of transports, bringing provisions and ammunition for the army from Fort Monroe, made its appearance. / Meanwhile, however, Generals Sumner and Franklin were furiously attacked at the passage of the White Oak Swamp, where the Confederates had at last brought up a powerful force in artillery. They retired foot by foot. Somewhat later in the same day Heintzelmann was also attacked at the Crossroads, where an action was fought, chiefly in the woods, with mixed results. M'CalPs division was very severely handled, and lost its commanding officer, who was made prisoner there. On the other hand, and on another spot, Hawker and Kearney, two capital officers, took a large number of prisoners from the Confederates. A third attack was also made by the Confederates on Porter's corps, which was beaten back by the Federal land artillery and the Federal gunboats. On the evening of the 30th of June the whole army of the Potomac was collected on the shore of the James River. The position which it occupied is a strong one, called sometimes Turkey Bend and sometimes Malvern Hill. The left of the army rested on the river, and was effectually covered by the gunboats; only one flank remained, therefore, to be guarded. The whole convoy of baggage was in safety behind the army, and the gcneral-in-chief had succeeded in restoring his communications with his transports and supplies. The bold movements by which he had escaped from a situation of great peril, and changed the base of operations which had been threatened by the enemy for one of great security, had been performed. But the army was totally exhausted. For five continuous days it had been incessantly fighting and marching, and this under the torrid heat of a tropical sun. Numbers of men fell out, and dropped back into the hugh mass of sick and wounded who dragged themselves along the line of march, as they could, and as long as they could, in a most piteous and distressing condition. Nevertheless, in the night of the 30th the whole force was rallied to its position, and, if again attacked by the Confederates I venture to affirm that the army of the Potomac is still in a condition to receive them. This result is mainly due to the numerous and powerful artillery which General M'Clellan has always insisted on carrying along with him, in spite of the difficulties of transporting guns in 60 heavy a country, with very imperfect road communication. The position he now occupies on the shore, opposite Harrison's Bar, was selected by*the engineers of the army and by the navy as the spot best adapted both for defence and for the arrival of supplies. Reinforcements have already been sent off, and the Federal government will probably attempt to oppose to the concentration of the Confederate forces a more concentrated action of the Federal armies.

The ' London Review' makes the following remarks explaining the causes of the Federal defeat: — It is clear, even from the Northern accounts, that the Federalists were greatly outnumbered; and, indeed, this fact is used by them to vindicate the conduct of the troops in the field. Superior as the Northeners are in arms and equipment to their adversaries, it is impossible for one army to resist another when the numbers are as one to three. But whence did this superiority arise? It arose from the original vice of the Federal plan of operations. The country which the Federalists have undertaken to attack has a diameter of 700 miles, and a circumference of upwards of 2000 extending from the Chesapeake round the Atlantic coast of the Gulf of Mexico, thence along the Mississippi up to Memphis, and thence eastward again to Richmond. Now the Federals determined to draw a net round the whole of this vast circumference. It is obvious, however, that a net of this enormous extent must be weak at some point, and in this lay the strength of the Confederates. The Confederates were acting in the centre of this enormous circle. By means of railways they were enabled to transport their troops with remarkable rapidity; and even when they were unable to resist the Federal attack in any quarter, they were able to abandon the untenable position, and to transfer their army where they would outnumber the Federalists. So it was with the army of Beauregard on the Mississippi. While Halleck, with some 100,000 men, was wondering to what point Beauregard had retreated, that officer had time to transport his whole army by railway to the neighbourhood of Richmond. And it is probable that the overpowering attack which was made upon M'Lellan was made by the army which had lately been fighting in the West. It may perhaps be that General M'Clellan and his staff" were aware of this danger, and it is certain that that officer has never ceased to proclaim his own weakness. He has constantly demanded reinforcements. It may be that the minister at Washington was to blame for persevering in a vicious plan of campaign. But this does not exonerate M'Clellan. If he seriously believed that he was too weak to attack Richmond, it was his duty to avoid approaching so near to that capital, that he. found it impossible to retire in time to avoid a. serious defeat. If tii« couvictions as to the danger of an advance were real, he ought to have resigned rather than undertake an operation of which he disapproved. He should have said, "My plan of operation is fixed, and if you, the President, and the cabinet, will not allow me to carry that plan into effect, I shall resign my command and denounce you when you fail." The position of an officer who should adopt such a course would be as highminded as it is patriotic. This plan of a series of operations in preference to one grand attack is the superstition of feeble generals and most civilian War Ministers. It was the superstition against which Wellington in the Peninsula had so vigorously to protest. It was the superstition which enabled Napoleon to gain so many victories. It is the superstition which has caused the defeat of the greatest army of the Federalists.

The "New York Times " of the 3rd July has the following:— We have at last full reports of the recent movements in front of Richmond. We are sorry to say that do not sustain fully the encouraging interpretation which the public sought to put upon the brief announcement that our right wing had been attacked, and had withdrawn to the other side of the Chickahominy. We hava now no room to doubt that our army has met with a very serious reverse, and that it is in a condition of peril which, if not imminent, at least calls for the instant and energetic efforts of the government and the country. Two of the regular corps of the " Times " reporters left General M'Clellan's headquarters, which are now on the James River, on Monday afternoon, and reached this city last night. They were spectators to the events which they describe, and although their reports are of necessity written in haste, and may therefore err in matters of detail, there is no reason whatever to doubt the entire accuracy of the narrative they give of the principal movements of the opposing forces. It seems from their statement that the right wing of our army, numbering about 20,000 men, was attacked oa Friday by an overwhelming rebel force of 50,000, and that after a hot and protracted fight, sustained with gallantry by oar troops, they effected their retreat across the Chickahominy. This leading fact was known before, but it now appears that they did not wait to destroy the bridges across the swamp so effectually as to prevent the rebels passage—that onr forces on the left for some reason or other, did Eot dispute the passage, although they had planted batteries for the purpose of doing so, but decided to abandon their position, and that accordingly on Saturday and Sunday the whole left wing, comprising the main body of the army under Heintzelman, Keyes, and Sumner, fell back along the whole line of the railroad and the Williamsburg road, turned the foot of the White Oak swamp, which approaches the Chickahominy, and marched to James River, a distance of 10 or 15 miles. The rebels, after crossing the Chickahominy in the immediate neighbourhood of what had been General M'Clellan's headquarters, paused on reaching the railroad, and made no further pursuit. They remained, however, in possession of the ground held by our own troops on both sides of the Chickahominy, including the bridges and earthworks we had erected against their approach in front. Our whole army, therefore, now lies upon the James River, at a point called Turkey Bend within reach and under cover of our gunboats. Supplies will quickly reach it from Fortress Monroe, and it seems to have withdrawn its stores in good order and without much loss. Beyond all question, this news will fall heavy upon the public heart. It is quite unexpected, and shatters the high hope which the whole country has of late indulged, that with the fall of Richmond the end of the war was close at hand. A day's reflection will rouse the whole country to the necessity of another effort to crush the rebellion. However we may regret the necessity for further sacrifices, there is no alternative. We have no election, even if we were base enough to desire oue. We cannot yield to the rebels in anus without disgraci

—without complete ruin to all our hopes of national renown, without the loss of everything that makes our country great, prosperous, and free. The government will meet this crisis with an intrepid spirit and a determined purpose, and it must be met by the same temper and with equal courage. The President, as it m anticipation of such a contingency, has already called for 300,000 additional volunteers. Every man of them ought to be enrolled within a fortnight. We shall have, we hope, no wranglings in the press or elsewhere over the past, no criminations or hostile critl " cisms, no attempts to exaggerate defeat, Phc country needs the best service of all her sons. Let the only contest be for precedence in the race for her rescue . Th folllowing despatches, telegraphed to Cape Race and from Londonderry, contain news a few days later than the above:— New York, July 11 The New York Tribune says that the President returned to Washington last evening, after visiting General M'Clellan's army. A letter from Port Monroe says that he went to see for himself, and learn what changes, if any, were needed. The troops wero well rested, and all going on satisfactorily. Another correspondent says that on the arrival of tho President at Harrison's Landing, General M'Clcllan, with several other generals, visited him on board, after which the President and the general held a private conference for half-an-hour. They then proceeded to visit the line of entrenchments. The President was welcomed with great enthusiasm. He was not satisfied with riding in front of the army, but dismounted, and ascended the ramparts in view of tho enemy's picket. Tho President briefly addressed the soldiers. He said he had come to see'for himself, and that he should go back satisfied. It was said that they had been whipped, but it was not so and never would be. Ho knew the men around him would prove equal to the task before them, and would never give up without going into Richmond, lie declared his confidence in the army and its commander. The party continued their route along the lines, and at i) o'clock in the evening returned to General M'Clellan's headquarters. On the morning of the 9th, after a conference had been held at head-quarters, tho President started upon his return. The reinforcements under General Burnsidc had passed up the James River. Tho New York Evening Post publishes a special despatch from Washington, stating that the forthcoming address of the Republican members of Congress to the people will be in favour of most energetic action in prosecution or the war, and of using all means in their power against the rebellion and foreign intervention cspeciallv. New York, July 14. An uneasy feeling generally prevails concerning military and political matters. A meeting of the members of Congress for tho Border States has been held at Washington to consider President Lincoln's emancipation scheme. Tho New York Eeeninh Post says that the majority opposo the scheme and will decline to accept tho proposal. A large body of Confederates has captured MurMurfrcesborough, near Nashville, and taken one Federal regiment prisoners. It is supposed that they will attack Nashville. Mobile despatches say that the Confederates under Van Dorn have captured Baton Rouge, near New Orleans, and taken 1500 Federal prisoners. Considerable excitement exists at Louisville, Kentucky. The Confederates aro reported to he in force near Frankfort.

So oarly as the 13th June the North had suffered a considerable reverse near Richmond. The Confederate forces succeeded in out-flanking M'Clcllau's army, and besides damaging a railway, destroyed a quantity of tents and baggage, and carried off a considerable number of prisoners. It would seem that the Confederates, without the slightest attempt at concealment, despatched a strong force both of cavalry, and artillery to Old Church, a point situated on the extreme right of General M'Clcllau's army,and not far distant from the Famunkey river. Having driven from this position the Federal cavalry, to whom its defence had been intrusted, they advanced to the river, destroyed some some shipping there, and then wheeling round, burned, or attempted to burn, the railway bridge about four miles from the White House; arrested tho progress of a train; cut the telegraph wires; took several prisoners, and finally retired unmolested to Richmond. This exploit was accomplished by the insignificant force of 1500 cavalry and half a dozen pieces of artillery. As soon as the facts became known, according to General M'Clellan's statement, a pursuit by cavalry was ordered, which, however, proved ineffectual, owing to " the start" obtained by the enemy. The House of Representatives has passed the Senate bill prohibiting slavery in the Territories of the United States.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill confiscating the slaves of rebels. Congress has passed the Tariff Bill, the duties of which are for the most part nearly prohibitory. . _ A Federal supervisor of the press has been appointed in Memphis. The Federal sentinels have received orders to shoot any persons attempting to lower the Federal flag or to molest Union citizens. 3000 bales of cotton have been shipped from Memphis. Guerillas are reported to bo burning the cotton in Northern Mississippi. No material change has taken place in New Orleans. One man has been hung in that city for hauling down the Federal flag from the Mint. Municipal and police duties are performed by persons appointed by the military. The New York correspondent of the Times says:— " General Butler, at New Orleans, continues to excite the hope of all moderate and Conservative men in this part of the country that tho President will soon find an opportunity to remove him to some position where he may do less mischief, lie is carrying matters with as high a hand as if he wenc a St. Just or a Fouquier TinYille, utterly forgetful of the fact that the people of New Orleans are not savages which he has conquered, but citizens, or ex-citizens of the Republic, which owes them freedom and protection as preliminaries to their allegiance, and to which they arc as much entitled as General Butler himself. He is regulating, or attempting to regulate, not only the behaviour and dress of women and children, but all the operations of trade and commerce, and the prayers of the multitude in their churches. The last heard of him is that a furious Charlotte Corday has been locked up in the calaboose for threatening his life, declaring as she was thrust into durance that there were a thousand women in New Orleans ready to execute the vengeance which Bho was about to accomplish, unless she were imprisoned for life; and that lie has sent an order to the churches and chapels of all denominations, that he will not tolerate any prayer that may be offered up for the destruction of the Union or the success of the Confederates. His 'little difficulty' in tho matter of the foreign consuls, and the seizure of the specie in the office of the consular agent of the Netherlands, is, it appears, to bo amicably arranged by the intervention of Mr. Seward—a result which is generally considered satisfactory as far as it goes, but which would be received with far greater pleasure if accompanied by the announcement that this very sharp lawyer from Massachusetts was no longer tho military governor of New Orleans, or any other place."

General Butler has issued a new form of oath for foreigners at New Orleans. The New York Herald says that instructions have been sent to General Butler to cease all further correspondence with the foreign diplomatic agents, and to leave such matters to the State department. The Federals evacuated James Island, near Charleston, some time ago, and returned to Hilton Head. The summer campaign against Charleston has been suspended. This resolution was come to after the Federal had sustained a terrific repulse, with a loss of 060 killed and wounded. A cry has lately been raised in New York to prevent the exportation of gold. The Federal General Curtis is in a very precarious position in Arkansas. The first train from Memphis to Corinth was attacked by the Confederate cavalry, and captured 12 miles from Memphis. All the clergymen of Nashville have refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal government. Most of them have been confined in the Penitentiary. The Conservative members of Congress have held a meeting at Washington. A large Anti-Abolition meeting has been held in New York. General Hunter, iu reply to an inquiry from Congress, acknowledges that he has drilled and armed negroes, and hopes by the end of the fall to present to the Government 40,000 negro soldiers. His reply will be debated in Congress. The following document appears in the Southern papers: AN Al'l'KAL TO EVEBY SOUTHERN SOLDJim. We turn to you in mute agony. Behold our wrongs! Fathers! husbands! brothers! sonsl we know these bitter burning wrongs will bo fully avenged. Never did Southern women appeal in vain for protection from insult. But for the sake of our sisters throughout the South, with tears wo implore yon not to surrender your

cities, in consideration of the defenceless women and children. Do not leave yonr women to the mercy of this merciless foe. Would it not have been better for New Orleans to have been laid in ruins, and we buried up beneath the mass, than that we should be subjected to these untold sufferings? Is life so precious a boon that for the preservation of it no sacrifice is too great ? Bather let us die with you, oh, our fathers ! Rather, like us Virginia, plunge your swords into our breasts, saying this is all we can give your daughters. The Daughtebs of New Orleans. New Orleans, May 24, 1862.

A New York letter notices a characteristic little episode of the war:—"An incident that has just occurred at Norfolk—a city under martial law—will serve to show the animus o'f the better half of creation tinder circumstances that might well abate even feminine zeal. Nothing daunted by the recent reverses of the South, the ladies ostentatiously carry parasols representing the Confederate flag; and wear upon their bosoms and in their bonnets the colours and other symbols of their cause. In crossing over to Portsmouth in the ferry boats they have made it a practice to unfurl their parasols, and flaunt them in the faces of the Federal Guards stationed at each side, much to the annoyance of the men and officers on duty. Instead, however, of imitating the bad example of General Butler and calling them by vile names, the officer ordered that ' the stars and stripes' chould be hoisted over the gangway, so that every lady passing from the ferry-boat would be compelled to walk tinder it or return the same way she came. This so annoyed the women—for whoso unreasonableness no excuse can be offered—that they complained to the military governor that they had been insulted by his soldiers. A commission was immediately appointed to investigate the charge. The result, after a great deal of had blood had been shown both sides, was that the ferry-boat itself was ordered to be decorated with a large Union flag. Consequently, every person who wishes to go to Portsmouth must sit or stand under the hated emblem, or remain at home. The ladies are exasperated, and the more so, perhaps, as they cannot accuse the military governor of having exceeded his duty as a soldier or forgotten it as a gentleman in his management of the case."

The following survey of the general position of affairs in America at the latest dates, wo take- from a leading article in the Times of July 23: — " Such an overthrow as the Federal army has received before Richmond cannot hut have had an instantaneous effect throughout the whole of the South. Wherever in that vast area the news of the great success has been conveyed, by telegraph or steamboat, by horseman or runner, we may be sure that the exultation has been wild and frantic. Even to our sober English eyes the battles on the Chickahominy seem like a crowing victory; to the excitable Southerner, burning with rage and hate at the invasion of his soil, and the atrocities with which it is accompanied, the description of the six days' lighting and the successive ■' stampedes' of his enemies must have been so inspiriting as to make inaction impossible. We may, then, it seems to us, expect movements of the highest importance all through the South. It is not easy to discover what is passing in that convulsed, but silent region. The Confederates have learnt to unite the most fervid enthusiasm with a secrecy which not even Russia has realised in modern warfare. Their enemies never see them till they feel them; never know what is their strength, their position, or their resources until the dawn of some morning brings an irresistible attack, or reveals the fact that a whole Confederate army has made off without the loss of a man, a gun, or a barrel of powder. So we ourselves can know littlo for certain of their plans; but we may yet make a very shrewd guess. There is every 'reason to believe that the western Confederate States will become in a week or two—perhaps have already become—the scene of a new struggle, far wider and fiercer than that of the past spring. The news received of the capturo of Murfreesborough by the Confederates slioavs that the work has already begun in Tennessee, and, unless the Federals are reinforced far more largely than we think them likely to be. it is possible that before the month of July is over the whole of Tennessee will be ia a blaze. Even in Kentucky the war may be renewed. There are two items in the news just published which are'of no little significance. 'Considerable excitement,' we are told, ' exists at Louisville, Kentucky, and ' the Confederates are reported to be in force near Frankfort.' If it be true, then, that in the very north of the State of Kentucky there is a secession movement, the position of the Federals become very serious indeed. While these are the prospects in the West it cannot be said that those of General M'Clellan are very bright. The more one examines the position into which this unfortunate commander has been driven, the more one is led to anticipate a continuance of the disasters which have fallen upon his army. The wreck of his forces, with all the additions which have been since made to their numbers, is now cooped up in a little tongue of land between two rivers. One of these, the Chickahominy, is entirely in the power of the Confederates, while" the other, the James, though open to Federal gunboats, is commanded to a certain extent by Confederate batteries on the south bank, and could, no doubt, be made almost impassable for transports by the mounting of some of the heavy seige guns which were taken from M'Clellan. When it is remembered that everything must now be brought to the Federal army by "sea, that M'Clellan does not command any country whatever, except the bit of riverside ground that he stands upon, and that a fortnight of blockade would reduce his army to the extreme of hunger, it must be allowed that his position is precarious in the extreme. The free navigation of the James now alone stands between him and destruction. Let but once the Confederates, by any means, close the river, and his capitulation would be a certain matter, unless with his enfeebled force he could crush his opponents and return to the positions from which they have driven him. The possibility of such a blockade may be quite reasonably admitted. Iron-clad vessels might certainly at all times run the fire of the Confederate batteries, but the case would be different with the infinite number of transports which are required to bring provisions or stores or forage, to land reinforcements or take away the sick and wounded. But if even the Confederates are unable or not enterprising enough thus to shut up their enemy in the swampy peninsula to which he has fled, and to force on him a surrender by excluding his means of subsistence, yet there arc foes enough which will fight the battles of the South. The fierce summer of America engenders fevers to which the maladies of Southern Europe are not to be compared, and the swampy banks of tho James River swarm with every development of insect life which can render that of man intolerable. But why should we dwell on these details? A beaten army in an American swamp, with a powerful enemy in front and flank, is in a position the dangers of which need not be enlarged upon. If the Confederates go on as they have begun, the perils of General M'Clellan are not vet over.

The Canadian Parliament have not only " rejected the first Militia Bill," but separated without any but a nominal addition to their forces, to the no small surprise of the British Government, who had been led, by the previous language of the colonists, to expect a grand military demonstration. A royal commission lately recommended that Canada should raise 100,000 militia, but her legislature has only provided funds for raising one-tenth of that number. Tho English papers generally regard this circumstance as a proof that the Canadians have made up their minds that in the event of danger from without, the arms of Great Britain would be immediately available for their defence. It is supposed that the extraordinary speed with which a small, but most efficient army was sent across tho Atlantic in the middle of last winter, in anticipation of a rupture with the Federal Government, must havo powerfully contributed to that belief. We perceive that the present Governor-General of Canada has taken a public oppo"tunity of exposing tho fallacy referred to. At a dinner given to him at Montreal a fortnight since, he called attention to the very insufficient number of militia for which provision had been made by the legislature. Ho then alluded to the war in America, and to a possible rupture in that quarter, in which case be said England would no doubt stand forward as heretofore in defence of her colonial dominions. But Lord Monck distinctly warned his hearers that imperial aid would be of no avail without the hearty co-operation of tho Canadians themselves. lie told them that England had not the means in caso of war of supplying men for the defence of the province, and that"the armies necessary for this purpose must be composed of colonists. lie recommended them, therefore, without raising a standing army, to take effective measures for their self-defence in case of need. " I speak," he said, "in the presence of a great mercantile community, and I only ask you to take the common precaution of every merchant in the caso of venture, to insure against risk or loss. But gentlemen, the insurance which I ask you to effect has this advantage, that not only will you repair loss should it take place, but in all probability the moral effect produced by tlio insurance will prevent tlio risk ever taking place." " it uppears that this advice was well received j by the people of Montreal.

LATEST IN'(•]•:LLIG ENCE. By the arrival of the Scotia yesterday afternoon (July 26) at Queenstown, we have later news from America. This news comes down to the lo'th July. The Confederates had disappeared from General

M'Clellan's front. They had, however, strengthened Fort Darling with iron-clad batteries, and were preparing for a prolonged struggle. In Tennessee and Kentucky they were reported to be in great force. Nashville was threatened with an immediate attack by them, and they were also marching on Lexington, Kentucky. The truth of the report of the capture of Baton Rouge ia doubted. The bombardment of Vicksburg continued without any result. The Confederate General Van Dorn has issued a proclamation declaring his intention to protect the banks along the Mississippi, to the last extremity. Governor Moore, of Louisiana, had issued a violent proclamation forbidding all intercourse with New Orleans. In that city General Butler had sent a lady named Phillips to Ship Island, for laughing derisively upon her balcony during the passing of the funeral of a Federal officer. The citizens of Memphis were ordered to take the oath of allegiance or leave the city within five days. Gen. Pope had issued an address to the army in Virginia, promising to lead them speedily against the enemy. Jn the Border States the Confederates guerillas were doing a good deal of mischief in the destruction of property and burning of bridges. A bill had been sent by President Lincoln to Congress, providing compensation for any State abolishing slavery. The majority of the members for the Border States repudiate tho President's emancipation scheme ; but the minority favour the plan. It was expected that the President would veto or modify the Confiscation Bill. There is no lessening of the determination in the North to crush the rebellion. A great mass meeting had beon held in New York, urging fresh efforts for the prosecution of the war, and declaring emphatically against foreign intervention. The Senate had passed a bill admitting Western Virginia as a State, with a clause providing for general emancipation. A despatch from New York of July 12, sent by the New York correspondent of the Times, says:— General M'Clellan has not been largely reinforced. The government cannot spare him any men from the existing divisions of the army. The bombardment of Vicksburg still continues, and has now lasted for 10 days. The city has been several times on fire. By order of Commodore Farragut, 2000 negroes are daily employed in digging a broad canal through the swamp on the opposite banks of the Mississippi, in order to turn the channel of the river. If the operation be successful, of which there is no doubt, Vicksburg will be left inland three miles from the new bed of the river.

Under date July 15 the same correspondent has forwarded by the Scotia the following important communication :

A mass meeting summoned to aid the government on the question of enlistment was held last night in Union-square, but was not numerously attended. Volunteering for the new army of 800,000 men makes slow progress, and the question of a conscription continues to be discussed. It is asserted,on high authority, that General M'Clellan is to be superseded by General Halleck in command of the army of the Potomac. The Senate passed the Confiscation Bill on July 12 by a majority of 27 against 13. It gives the Confederates 60 days to lay down their arms, and declares guilty of treason all who after that time shall not return to their allegiance. The penalty of treason is death, and confiscation of all property —that is, slaves, included. The slaves of rebels are to be set free. The President is to have the power of pardon, or to pass the minor sentence of five years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dollars. It is believed that the President will veto the bill.— Gold 17 per cent, premium; silver 10 per cent, premium. Exchange on London, 129}. Stocks depressed and the market dull.