AMERICA.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 437, 31 December 1861, Page 3

AMERICA.

(From tht Times.) Londonderry, October 15. The Canadian screw steamer Jura, which arrived here to-day, passed the Norwegian on the 7th and the North American on the 10th inst. New York, October 4. The latest reports received from Lexington via Jeffereou City state that General

Price had evacuated that place and gone southward to join M/Quljoeh intending, alter effecting this junction, to give battle td General Fremont. - It was thought he would endeavor to pla-re himself between Jefferson City and the Federal forces under the commands of Generals Davis and Siegel, thus cutting off the latter, who intended joining General Fremont at Jefferson City. Lexington is now occupied by the Federal troops under Major Sturgis. A report from Western Virginia says that ten companies of Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia troops, on a day not specified, attacked and routed the Confederates at Chapmansville, killing 10 and taking 200 prisoners. From the same unreliable source it is reported that a battle was going on between General Cox and the Confederate Generals Wise and Floyd. Reports are in circulation that the Confederate General Buckner, with 5000 troops, threatens an attack on Spottisville, Missouri. The Richmond papers say that 250 Federal prisoners were sent to New Orleans on the 24th ult. The steamer Northern Light has arrived from Aspinwall with nearly $1,000,000 in specie. Affairs at Washington appear not to be materially changed. ♦ New York October 4, Evening. General Wool has arrived at Washington for the purpose of consulting the Federal Cabinet. It is reported that he will proceed on a tour of inspection through the Western department. The rumor of General Fremont's removal has created great excitement at St. Louis. Mr. Seward has telegraphed to General Fremont that he is not ordered to Washington, and that no court-martial has been ordered on him. General Reynolds reports to the War Department that he had a successful engagement with the Confederates during a reconnaissance at Cheat Mountain. A large number of Confederates were killed, and many horses and cattle were captured by the Federals. It is reported that the Confederates have j withdrawn behind Manassas. j General Buckner is said to be advancing further into Kentuckj', and collecting arms on the way. The Richmond hospitals are reported to contain over 12,000 patients. Southern parties confirm this report. The Confederates have abandoned Ship Island. General M'Clellan has issued an order according to which the penalty of death will be inflicted on all soldiers committing depreciations. The Federal Government has chartered all the Yaaderbilt steamers. New York, October 5. There are unmistakable indications that a battle will be fought on the Potomac within the next two days. General Sharman supersedes General Anderson in Kentucky. It is reported on good authority that the British steamer Bermuda has run the blockade at Savannah. The Federal chartered gunboat Fanny has been captured inside Hatteras, near Roanoke Island. ' Several vessels are loading ammunition at Havannah for the Confederates.

(From the Home News.)

The magnitude of the forces either actually under arms or shortly to be raised is almost incredible. After all the abatements demanded by the exaggerations of the American journals, the residue of probable truth as computed by trustworthy authorities is enough to astound us. None of the regular armies of Europe make any approach to the scale of these levies, all of which are tor active and immediate service. Tbe aggregate population of the States adhering to the Union is very nearly that of Great Britain. The impracticable nature of the dispute is shown in the incidents of the subsidiary expeditions. We have said above that in Missouri and Kentucky separate wars are pending. Not only are these wars conducted almost irrespectively of the grand operations in Virginia, but also, to all appearance-, independently of the chief governments. What command General Beauregard may retain over his lieutenants we cannot say, but it is distinctively intimated that General Fremont, who bold the chief command in Missouri, might possibly refuse obedience to President Lincoln, and continue the campaign eveji if ordered to resign. If he were to win a battle,, he would, it is said, become absolutely his own master. But though in these remoter districts the armies are smaller, and the commanders, as having less at stake, lets circumspect in theit movements, yet nothing decisive can be accomplished Cities are taken and evacuated, battles won and lost, wonderful marches achieved, and pursuits undertaken ; but Missouri is no nearer being a Confederate or Unionist State than it was at first, Kentucky is similarly divided, and in these sundered States we see the image of the whole Union. Maryland, though certainly in the hands of the Federal Government, offers no example of better things. The Unionists do contrive there to hold in subjugation the disaffected portion of the population, but at what cost ? This little State is only kept down by an army of 35,000 men quartered within its limits.

It must not be forgotten that the north has an indisputable superiority by sea, and is therefore not likely to neglect any opportunity of directing a blow against the seaboard of the South. The success of a Northern squadron at the Hatteras forts was mentioned in our September number; and within thjtJast few days we have received intelligent that another piece of good fortune has befallen the Federal navy. We learn that a Confederate expedition which

had enieavoreci to; recapture the forts at Hatteras has boen completely defeated According to one account three of the attacking steamers wore sunk; according to another, the number was two. On ibe other hand, however, if a telegram of h» 15th of October, which was despatched to Cape Race.^lp be relied upon, the blockading squadron at Orleans had been attacked by a Confederate fleet of gunboati with disastrous results, one federal ship being sunk and the re6t driven ashore. The entry of cotton into New Orleans had been authoritatively forbidden by the Governor of Louisiana. We hear of another naval expedition, consisting of 20 ships, which had left New York for some unknown point of the Southern coast. In our last we drew attention to an expedition which was understood to be in preparation in Missouri for the purpose of carrying the war down the Mississippi to New Orleans. This expedition was to be under the command of General Fremont. It will be recollected that General Fremont had issued an abolitionist proclamation, which, if. President Lincoln's government had endorsed it, would inevitably have provoked a servile war. - The modification of the proclamation has since been ordered by the President, who shows no inclination to adopt an abolitionist policy. This circumstance and a violent quarrel which Fremont has had with the Blair family, who are all-powerful in Missouri, have rendered the general's position during the past few weeks a very peculiar one. His removal from his command has been much talked of, but is not confirmed. Meanwhile, we have heard no more of the Mississippi expedition: and indeed it is impossible that the project can be proceeded with unless the Federalists fiist make themselves masters of Missouri. The surrender of Lexington to the Confederate forces was the principal military incident of the month in Missouri. It took place on the 20th of September. The following is the despatch announcing it:—The subjoined account of the siege of Lexington is furnished to the St. Louis Republican by Henry Bradburn, one of Colonel Mulligan's soldiers, who left Lexington on the morning of the 21st:—' The fort was surrendered on Friday. The men fought for 59 hours without water, and bad only threo barrels of vinegar to quench their thirst. During all that time there were no springs or wells of water in the camp ground, as has been stated. The supply of water was entirely from the river. There were breastworks all around the camp, with the exception of the portion next the river. It was here that the hardest fighting took place. The rebels procured a large number of hemp bale* and rolled them in advance, and under their coves gradually succeeded in securing a position in the rear. They then cut off the supply of water, and had the fort completely surrounded. They made but few charges upon the breastworks during the entire siege. Their object seemed to be to surround the fort and cut off the supply of water, and, having succeeded in this, they waited until Colonel Mulligan was compelled to yield to a foe more terrible than the 27,000 Confederates who surrounded him. Previous to his surrender he offered to take a position on a level spot of ground and give General Price the odds of four to one in a fair and open fight, but no attention was paid to it. After the surrender the rebebamqunted the breastworks, and seemed mad with joy and delight. As soon as the surrender took place they took down the national flag and trailed it in the dust. An immense amount of gold, about a million and a half of dollars, fell into the possession of the rebels. It was taken from the banks and buried by Colonel Mulligan in the camp ground some time ago, but the rebels speedily discovered and , unearthed it. Colonel Mulligan wept like a child when he found himself compelled to surrender. The morning after the surrender the men were all released on parole, and ferried across the river. The officers were retained. The loss of the rebels is not known, but it is thought to be no less than 1000 killed and wounded. The first attack of the rebels proved more disastrous to them than the long siege which followed. For a day or two previous to the last attack they were engaged ia burying their dead.' The Confederates have since evacuated Lexington; but they continue to experience the moral effects of their success, not to speak of the enlivening influence produced by the immense booty they carried off. The Maryland Legislature has been suppressed. Nearly all the members favoring secession were arrested, together with the clerks of both Houses. The remaining Union members refused-to meet and returned to their homes. The legislature is thus at an end. The New York correspondent of the Morning Post says that a, M'Clellan is greatly needed, hot merely at Washington, but in every place were regiments are being raised, to teach officers and men that the first duty of a soldier is obedience. Hardly a day passes without the report of some gross act of insubordination. Not long since a regiment paraded at NewYork before going on service. The colonel was on bad terms with his officers, and on parade called on his men Ao say whether they wished to have him as their colonel. They shouted, 'Yes,' and thereupon five captains stepped to the front and pointed their swords at him, calling him a scoundrel. He ordered them to fall in, when they did so, and the corps marched off with the fiva captains' companies. This is only one of innumerable cases of the same kind. A considerable number of French officer*, including the Princes and partisans of the Orleans family, are now, it appears, at Washington, soliciting commissions in the Federal.army. Several of them took part in Lamoriciere's brief campaign in Italy. All business was suspended throughout the Northern States on the 26th of September, in accordance with a proclamation of President Lincoln, ordering the observance of that day as a day or humiliation and prayer. 'In the evening,' iayt a Boston letter, •the various places of amusement were more full than usual. Moot of the sermons were violent political harangues, strung upon some text from the Old Testament which could be made to fit the occasion. In the Church of the Puritans, Dr. Cheever delivered a furious antislavery address, which was frequently interrupted by applause; but in the majority of the churches the subject of slavery wai either altogether ignored, or the institution was defended.' <

Encboachments of the Sea.—At the recent meeting of the British Associ*. tion, Mr. Pengelly stated some curious facts concerning the encroachment of the sea on the coast of Devon, near Torbay. In one case, a large wave entered a drawing-room at Torquay, ransacked it, turned the pianoforte to the other side of the apartment, and retreated in possesBion of all the light articles. The walls are unceasiugly attacked, the sea seeming to have a compact with the quarry men and rhasona to afford them abundant employment. Having suggested to certain engineers that it might be desirable to build walls twice as strong. iv order that they might last for ever, the engineers replied that they preferred rebuilding them every twenty years; not, however, to increase their own profits, as human nature would assume but from an excellent and true bit of political economy. Money invested at compound interest doubles itself in, say fourteen years, hence the addiiional expenditure, if saved and ™6S™> would in twenty years' time rebuild the wall, and leave a handsome ytofa.—London Review. Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—Fore-sight.-Many slight symptoms forerun most disenses, and should never, in any case be negleoted. In diarrhoea, especially, the earliest symtoras must be checked, or the disorder will produce most unfavorable events. When swelling, tenderness, flying pains, and incipient lrntatiou of the bowels display themselves, no treatment for safety and certainty equals rubbing i.. Holloway's Ointment. It should be thoroughly rubbed over the abdomen, at least twice a-day, and flannel should be worn next the skin, to prolong the friction, and mamtain the temperature. The Ointment alone will nrrest diarrhoea; but its curative powers will be augmented, if Holloway's Pills can be taken likewise. Holloway's are the only reliable remedies for every bowel complaint. The Mother.— Young man! Thy mother is thy best earthly friend. The world may forget you—thy mother never; the world may wilfully do you many wrongs—thy mother never; the world may persecute you while living, and wben dead plant the ivy and the nightshade cf slander upon your grassless grave. But thy mother will love and cherish thee while living, and if she survive, will weep for thee wheji dead such tears as none but a mother knows how to weep. Love thy mother !