The Express.
London, England, 1863-01-05 00:00:00

[Stamped, ld. Additional.]

AMERICA.

(fox Qua 5211CL1.

NNW YOU, Dm. 23.

The rumour of Mr. Seward's reeignatioa was con-
firmed on Sunday morning ; but a second one re-
ceived on Monday morning re-instates him on the
urgent solicitation of the President. His example
was followed by Secretary Chase, and if the move-
ment has not been arrested by the President's inter-
vention, it will probably result in the breaking up
of the whole Cabinet. The way is which the con-
vulsion was brought about was singular and unpre-
cedented. A " caucus" or secret meeting of the
Republican senators was held ow Friday, after the
arrival of the bad news from Fredericksburg,
in which Mr. Seward was violently denounced
by the more radical members of the party,
and resolutions were introduced and carried asking
for his dismissal by the President. They were,
however, carried by so small a majority that it
was not felt to be proper to-base any action upon
them, and the meeting • was adjourned until the
followingday. On reassembliteg, a resolution was
introdhel9llsefilehig tlignaNnet gedevelly without.

mentioning any one by name, and requesting the
President to reconstruct it. This was carded'{
twenty-eight senators voting for it, and a commit-)
tee was appointed to wait on the President with it,
But before there was time to see him,' Mr. Seward
got wind of what had happened, and forestalled
everybody by giving in his resignation. • ,• • •
The newslas now come of the refusal of the Pre-
sident to accept Mr. Seward's resignation ; sof sup-
pose he may be considered reinstated, and the same
course I presume will he followed with regard to
Mr. Chase, and the cabinet will thus remain for
the present intact I pay "for the present,"
because it appears to be pretty certain that the
Senate is not disposed to givethe matter up without
a struggle, and will return to the charge supported
by a strong body of the lower hOuse. If this
should be the case, it would not be difficult-to
foretel the result. The executive here, &swell sielse-
where, would havetogivewaybefore the legislature.
There is, however, a possibility that the news from
the army this morning may so strengthen the Pre-
sident's hands that the Senate will retire froth the
field. It was the disaster at Fredericksburg which
brought on the explosion becaule it was alleged
and believed that General had crossed the
river against his judgment, and in obedience to
peremptory orders from Washington. His report
to General Halleck, published this morning, now'
reveals the fact that be only was responsible for,
the movement, and that neither the President nor
the War Department was aware of it until it was
made. Moreover, it was stated over and over again
that it was General Halleck's having forgotten
to give the order for the pontoons to be at
Fredericksburg when Burnside, first arrived,
thus causing delay which enabled Lee to ar-
rive and concentrate his forces in front of him.
It now turns out that the order was written and
signed and despatched in Buruside's presence, and
that the delay was due to difficulties of transpor-
tation.

To those—and their number is large—who con-
sider the complete independence of, the cabinet of
the control of the legislature a flaw in the con-
stitution, and who desire to see the adoption here
of the practice of Etiglish miniskirt; in retiring
fern office before a vote of want of confidence in
parliament, this action of the Senate has given
great satisfaction ; and they are extremely anxious
that the senate should persevere until it succeeds,
and thus establish a precedent. I hare not time
to-day to discuss this matter at greater length,
but it cannot be denied that the inconveniences

resulting from the retention of s cabinet by the
President in which the majority of the public
have lost confidence, have been long nutuifect,
and never eo much so as at this crisis.

Burnside's letter—which you will receive by this
mail—has more than atoned, in the popular esti-
mation, for his failure. It is universally felt that
no one but a brave and loyal gentleman could have
written it, and I verily believe there is at this mo-
ment a stronger disposition to trust him than if ho
had won the battle.

The Royal Mail steamer Arabia, which left
Boston on the 24th and Halifax on the 26th ult.,
arrived at Liverpool yesterday. She bring 46 pee-
imagers, 116,650 dollars in specie, and advisee from
New York to the 24th ult.

General Burnside has addressed the following
letter respecting the battle of Fredericksburg to
the General-in-Chief of the United States army.
General Burnside takes, it will be seen, the whole
responsibility of the attack and its failure upon
himself :

Headquarters of the ♦rmy of the Potomac,
Falmouth, Dec. 19.
Major-Genenl H. W. Halleac, General•in-Chief United
States Army, Weahiogtoa.

Geberal,—l have the hanOgir to offer the following reasons
for rooviag the array of the Potomac acme the Rappahan-
nock sooner than wee anticipated by the President, Secre-
tary of War, or yourself, and for crossing at a point dif•
forgot from the one indicated to you at our last meeting at
the President's.

During my preparations for crouine at the place I had
first selected I discovered that the enemy had thrown a
large portion of his force down the river and elsewhere,
thus weakening his defences in front, and also thought I
discovered that he did not anticipate the crossing of our
*hole force at Fredericksburg ; and I hoped, by rapidly
throwing the whole command over at that place, to separate,
by a vigorous attack, the forces of the enemy on the river
below from the tomes behind and on the crest, in the rear
of the town, in which ease we could light him with great
advantage in our favour.
To do this we bad to gain a height on the extreme right
of the crest, which height commanded a new road lately
made by the enemy fur purposes of more rapid communi-
cation along his lines, which point gained, his position
along the crest would have been scarcely tenable, and he I'
could have Leen driven from them easily by ac attack on
hie front in connexion with a movement in the rear of the
meet _ _

How near we came to accomplishing our object future
reports will show. But for the fog and unexpected and
unavoidable delay in building the bridges, which gave the
enemy 24 hours more to concentrate his forces in his strong
positions, we would almost certainly have succeeded, in
which use the battle would have been, in my opinion, far
more decisive than if we had crossed at the places fiat
selected. As it was, we came very near success. Failing
in aocomplishing the nude object, we remained in order
of battle two days—loog enough to decide that the
enemy would not come out of his strongholds to fight
us with his infantry—after which we recrossed to
this side of the river unmolested, without the loss of
men orporomaPerrtcyh. marching A•
to th.
theirday broke our long lines of troops
..r. .edifferent positions as if going
cm parade. Not the least demondisatioe or disorgariestioe
existed. To the brave officers and soldiers who accomplished
the feat of thus recroeaing the river in the face of the
mislay I owe everything.
For the failure in the attack I am respousible, u the
extreme gallantry, courage, and endurance shows by than
were Dever exceeded, and would have carried the points had
it been pessills. To the families sod friends of the dead I

[TWOPENCE

WI only offer r• 7 heartfelt sympathies ; but for the
wouadect, I tan offer my earnest prayen for their comfort-
able end final recovery.
The fact that I &Mid to move from Warrenton re to
this line, rather against the opinion of the President, Some•

dry of War and yOurself, and that you left the whole move-
ment in my bards, without giving me orders, makes me

I will visit you very moon, rind give you more definite in-
formation, and finally, will send you my detailed report, in
' " • ' "

which especial ackaewladgment will be made of the ser-'

vices of the different grand division carps and my general
. .

and staff departments of the array of the Potomac, to whom
• • • • • • •• •

lam so much indebted foe their - support and hearty co-
operation.
I will add here that the moremeot was made earlier than
you =pentad, sod after the President, secretary, and your-

self requested me not to be in hate, for the mace that se
were supplied much wooer by the different staff depart-

meats than was anticipated when I last saw you.
Our killed amotmts to eleven hundred and fifty-two, our
wounded to about nine thousand, and our prisoners to

about seven huodred, which last have been paroled sod ex-
cbanged'for about the same number taken by us. The
wounded were all removed to this side of the river, and are

being well oared for, and the dead were all buried under a

flag of truce. The surgeoes report a =eh larger propor-
tion of slight wounds then owl. 1,632 only being treated
for hospitals. Ima dad aerispiemailia way at the pre-

coot time in good condition. ilionkiag the got ornment for

that entire support and ocefillesee which I have always re.
aimed from them, I mamba General, very respectfully,
„your obedient servant, A. B. BUIUMIDE,
Major-General Commending the Army of the Potomac.

It was rumoured that deneral Burnside bad sent
in bia resignation, and that the President had re-
fused to accept it. The general left Washington on
the 21ted to return to headquarters.
The following remarks upon the battle of Freda-
rickSburg are taken from a Southern paper, the
. - -

Bkhosonii Dispatch, of Dec. 16 :
The Wale etWarder. taking into

number of. =et engaged, the quantity of artillery sad
other engine' d war employed, the valour of the C 401•
batante and the skill of the generals, was probably the
grease battle ever fought on this continent. It was fought

ht nearly twd handsel thousand men and aeseral hundred

pieces o artillery. It was contested for ten hours. It
reunited in a complete victory to the Cootederate tonne.
We my complete, because, although the enemy's knee
wee not annihilatedr—qbel, captured, or dispersed—the •
failure was entirely owing to the near neighbourhood of
their etroogholdn to which they fled when they found

theraselves unable to face our imam any longer in the
field. Had the battle been fought 20 miles this side of the
Rappahannock river there would have bow mach a rout as
. . . .

the world did not witness in the forty-sit years that
elapsed between the battle of Waterloo and the first battle
of Manassas. is it was, it has proved sixths Yankees that
no superiority of numbers or of preparation can avail them
in a pitched battle with the forces of the Confederacy—a
truth so patent and so often exemplified, that we believe
they are the only people on earth who venture to deny it.
Our loss has been heavy, but beers no comparison what-
ever to that of the many. We have to regret about
2,500 killed, wounded, and missing, while acoordiug to the
report of those beet skilled in making estimates of this den.
cription, their las does not certainly fell short of 10,000,
and in all probability greatly exceeds it. This will not
be regarded u at all improbable when we take into con-
sideration the relative position of the opposing armies..

The Confederates were on the heights,- ;which rendered
them km aocemribk to ammo. The Yankees were in the
low grounds, 'objected to a murderous Are of artillery
and musketry as they advanced. Every shot told, and
those who "Mame' it my that the slaughter was awful
beyond anything yet witomeed In the war. General
Longstroct succeeded in getting posseesioe of a long stone
wall on the oatakirte of Fredmicksbarg, and in placing I
whole division bellied H. The Tanker, with more bold-
ness than they usually exhibit co suck ocomMes, attempted
to get poseresiou of it. They were needed with unpars-
lolled slaughter in every attempt, and at last broke and Sod
in confusion.
The Yankee., we preemie, will wait for the arrival of
Sigel's corps before they try their luck again. What may
be the strength of this body we have no name of deter-
miaing, but we feel convinced that it is not sufficiently
great to alter the result, and that if after its arrival
another attack shall be hazarded, the nod will be the
mine. The general hope is here that the trial will be made, so
confident are all in the valour of oar army and the con-
summate skill of its great leader. It seems to be doubted
whether General Lee permitted the enemy to come over, or
whether be could have prevented it had he tried. It seems
to us that he had every roman to wish them to come over.
Hs had selected this field of battle, and had thoroughly
studied it, as Napoleon had does the field of Aunterlito,
when he fell back thirty miles to draw his enemy to it, and
as Wellington is said to have done at Waterloo. He had an
army full of confidence in themselves and in him. The dis-
parity of force was not so great am to render victory at all
improbable when the composition of the two armies and the
animating spirt of seek are taken into consideration. If
they were determined to pas be could hardly have pre-
vented them, sins they had possession of the heights on
the Stafford side, arid had crowned them with innumerable
batteries. What may have been his motives it is impos-
sible for us, of course, to say ; but we understand one of
bin officers, very high in rank, expressed himself in strong
terms anxious, above all thinp, for them to coma over and
try their fortunes on the very ground which was the theatre
of the battle several weeks ago.
This is the tenth pitched battle in which Geoeral Lee
has commanded within less than six months, and in all
of them he has been victorious. No other campaign except
that of Italy in 1796, and that of France in 1814, presents
such a result. Our people are cheered by the reflection
that their armies are commanded by two primula who have
no rival in the art of ear—Lee on the Rappaheouock, and
Johnston in the South-west. They are as superior to the
Yankee generals in every quality that constitutes the mili-
tary chief as the soldiers they lead are to the thieves and
out-throats that Lincoln has sent to subjugate them.
"The movements of the army of the Rappahan-
nock are not of much importance," says the New
York Herald of the 23rd ult., The wounded in the
late action are being carefully attended to. The
weather in the vicinity of Falmouth oontMess fun,
and the troops are said to be in good spirits.

The following address to the army of the Po- -
toinae has been issued by President Lincoln :
TO THE ASHY UP THZ POTOYAC.
Executive Mansion, Wastungton, fled Dec.

I have just received your commanding general's preihni.
nary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you
were not sue...useful, the attempt was nos an error, nor the
failure other than en Rockiest. The courage with which

you in 30. open field maintained the emitaMt against as

iutresched foe, and the consummate 'kill and success with
which you crossed and recrossed the river in the face of
the enemy, show that you pore's all the qualities of a
great array, which will yet give victory to the cause of the
country sod of popular government.
Outdating with the mouroers for the dead, and sympa-
thising with the severely wounded, I cosgratulete you that
the number of both ia comparatively so small.
I tender to you, officers and sadism the thanks of the
nation. (Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Washington lispublican tells us that the Pre-
sident is reported to have said to a committee of
distinguished gentlemen which waited upon him
during the latter part of last week, in regard to the
emancipation proclamation and other matters, that
he had carefully coniidered the matter before issuing
his proclamation, and that having Mace had nu oc-
casion to change his views on the subject, there
would be no withdrawal, modification, or postpone-
ment of it, he still believing the interest of the
country demanded its enforcement.

The Pattie of Saturday evening says, " The
Emperor and Queen Vieterfa exchanged New Vear's eon.
gratulallous through the telegraph."
The Gazette du Danu& etatee that Audria has
appestat Major Hopfinger ; F 1•0011. Berea d'Andslot ; and
the Porto. Mehemetedli-BeYi m their respective con:mis-
sies:ars for settling the range of the fortress of Belgrade.