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

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 4.
The Royal mail steamship Arabia has arrived,
'with the New York mail of the 23d, Boston of the
24th, and Halifax of the 26th ult., and 111,650
dols. in specie.
In the Senate, on the 23d, Mr. Lane, of Kansas,
gave notice of a bill to authorise the President to
raise 200 regiments of infantry composed of per-
sons of African descent.
In the House of Representatives on the 22d, Mr.
Vallandigham, of Ohio, offered the following reso-
lution which he proposed to debate :
" That this house most earnestly desire that most
speedy and effectual measures be taken for the re-
storation of peace in America, and that no time be
lost in proposing an immediate cessation of hostili-
ties in order for a speedy and final settlement of the
unhappy controversies which brought about this
unnecessary and injurious civil war, by just and
adequate security against the return of like calami-
ties in time to come, and this house desire to offer
most earnest assurances to the country that they
will in due time cheerfully co-operate with the Exe-
cutive and States for the restoration of the Union,
to make such explicit and most solemn amendments
and provisions of the Constitution as may be found
necessary for securing the rights of the
several
States and sections within the Union under the
Constitution."
Laid over. Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, offered a reso-
lution that a protest and remonstrance of 36 mem-
bers of the !louse, submitted therewith against the
unconstitutionality and injustice of the bill recently
passed indemnifying the President and others for
suspending the writ of habeas corpus, be entered on
the journal.
Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, moved to
table it. Carried 75 against 40. On the 23d, Mr.
pendleton, of Ohio, rising to a privilege question,
moved the protest he offered on the previous day to
be entered upon the journal. The Speaker stated
that the House had refused the entering of it on the
journal, and cited former precedents in support of
his decision. Mr. Penbleton appealed. The Speaker
was sustained-74 against 20. Mr. Stevens, of
Pennsylvania, from the Committee of Ways and
Means, reported the Legislative Judicial, and Exe-
cutive Appropriation Bill. It was made a special
order for the sth of January.
General Halleck had received the following re-
port of the affair at Fredericksburg :
" To MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, GENERAL-IN-CHTEP,
UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON.

" Head. quarters. Army of the Potomac,
Falmouth, Dec. 19, 1862.
" General,—l have the honour to offer the follow-
ing reasons for moving the army of the Potomac
across the Rappahannock sooner than was antici-
pated by the President, Secretary of War, and
yourself, and for crossing at a point different from
the one indicated to you at our last meeting at the
President's :
" During my preparations for crossing at the
place I bad first selected, I discovered that the
enemy had thrown a large portion of his force down
the river and elsewhere, thus weakening his de-
fences in front, and also thought I discovered that
he did not anticipate the crossing of our whole force
at Fredericksburg, and I hoped, by rapidly throw-
ing the whole command over at that place, to sepa-
rate by a vigorous attack the forces of the enemy on
the river below from the forces behind and on the
crest in the rear of the town, in which case we could
fight him with great advantage in our favour. To
do this we had to gain a height on the extreme
right of the crest, which height commanded a new
road lately made by the enemy for the purpose of
more rapid communication along his lines, which
point gained his positions along the crest would
have been scarcely tenable, and he could have been
driven from them easily by an attack on his front,
in connexion with a movement in rear of the crest.
How near we came of accomplishing our object ; 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 case the battle would
have been, in my opinion, far more decisive than
if we had crossed at the places first selected.
As it was, we came very near success. Failing in
accomplishing the main object, we remained in
order of battle two days, long enough to decide that
the enemy would not come out of his strongholds
to fight us with his infantry, after which we re-
crossed to the side of the river unmolested and with-
out the loss of men or property. As the day broke
our long lines of troops were seen marching to their
different positions as if going on parade. Not
the least demoralisation or disorganisation existed.
" To the brave officers and soldiers who accom-
plished the feat of thus recrossing the river in the
face of the enemy I owe everything. For the
failure in attack I am responsible, as tho extreme
gallantry, courage, and endurance shown by them
was never exceeded, and would have carried the
points had it been possible. To the families .and
friends of the dead I can only offer my heartfelt
sympathy, but for the wounded I can offer my ear-
nest prayers for their comfort and final recovery.
" The fact that I decided to move from Warren-
ton on to this line rather against the opinion of the
President, Secretary of War, and yourself, and that
you left the whole movement in my hands, without
giving me orders, makes me responsible. I will
visit you very soon and give you more definite in-
formation, and finally I will send you my detailed
report, in which a special acknowledgment will be
made of the services of the different grand divi-
sions, corps, and my general and staff departments
of the Army of the Potomac, to whim I am so much
indebted for their support and hearty co-operation.
I will' add here that the movement was made earlier
than you expected, and after the President, Secre-
tary of War, and yourself requested me not to be in
haste, for the reason that we were supplied much
sooner by the different staff departments than was
anticipated when I last saw you.
"Our killed amounts to 1,152, our wounded to
about 9,000, and our prisoners 700, which last have
been paroled and exchanged for about the same num-
ber taken by us. The wounded were all removed
to this side of the river, and are being well cared for,
and the dead were all buried under a flag of truce.
The surgeons report a much larger proportion of
slight wounds than usual, 1,632 only being treated
in hospitals.
,4 I am glad to represent the army at the present
time in good condition.
" Thanking the Government for that entire sup-
port and confidence, which I have always received
from them, I remain, General, very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
" A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General com-
manding Army of Potomac."
An official re
1,128 killed, 9,105 wound
port estimates the Federal loss aed , and 2,078 missing;
making a total of 12,311.
President Lincoln had issued the following thanks
to the Army of the Potomac:--.
" Executive Mansion,
ashiilgton, Dec. 22.
"To the Army of the Potomae,--I have inst re •
ceived your Commanding General's prAellitminuagryh
yroeu-
port of the battle of Fredericksburg, Although
were not successful, the attempt was not an error,
nor the failure other than an accident. The courage
with which you, in an open field, maintained the
contest against an intrenched foe, and the con-
onmmate skill and success with which you crossed
and recrossed the river in the face of the enemy,
show that you possess all the qualities of a great
army, which will yet give victory to the cause of
the coup try and of popular government.
"Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and
sympathising with the severely wounded, I con-
gratulate you that the number of both is compara-
tively so small.
I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks
of the nation.
" ABRAITAIIi LINCOLN."
General Burnside tendered his resignation to the
President, but it was not accepted, and he returned
to his command on the 22d.

On the 16th the Rep lcubl* an members of the
Senate met in caucus, and after a •
session of four
hours, during wbich several senators made fierce
attacks upon Secretary Seward, making him re-
sponsible for the defeats, and declaring that the
country was tired of the present conduct of the
war, a resolution was offered by S3nator Grimes of

lowa, deelaring a want of confidence in Secretary
Seward and requesting the President t r remove
him. This was passed by a vote of 13 37( as to 11
nays. A long discussion was entered into, Senator
Sumner making a lengthy speech, at'i eking the
foreign diplomacy of Secretary Seward. Others were
made by Senators Sherman, Trumbull, Wade, &c. It
was charged that Seward's policy was a Fabian one,
that of delay ; that he had encouraged M'Clellan
in his delays ; that his idea of surrounding
the Confederates was a delusion ; that he was
responsible for sending the Banks expedition away
to the Gulf instead of to the James River. They
then adjourned over to Wednesday,
adjournment of the Senate, they resumed their con-
sultations. Senator Hi.rris a when, aftermended the resolution, the
to read " That, in the judgment of the Senate, a
reconstruction of the Cabinet would increase the
confidence of the country." Senator Sherman ob-
jected, because this was too broad; that Secretary
Chase would resign at f that were passed.
once i
par
Senatortiool
articular
Fessenden then
reconstruction," and
it to read, "A
' and upon that the re-
oio
wore added, making it nine. On the 18th Senator
King informed Mr. Seward of the action of the
sutn
Afterwards Senators Howard and Harris
formed.l passed, and a committee of seven was
Senate, and he and the Assistant-Secretary at once
sent to the President their resignations. In the
evening the committee of nine waited on the Presi-
dent, and laid the matter before him. The com-
mittee retired, and left the matter in the hands of
the President, believing that it was all sight. The
committee from the senatorial caucus were invited
by the President to meet him at the White House
on the 19th. On their arrival they found the whole
Cabinet there, excepting Secretary Seward. The
Pres:dent introduced the subject and stated the
object of the committee. Secretary Chase at once
stated that he did not come there to be arraigned by
senators. Senator Fessenden said he did not come
there to arraign any one. The President said they
were all there on an Equality, and invited an inter-
change of opinion. Senator Harris stated that he
was not a personal friend of Secretary Seward,
though formerly a law partner, and thought there
were a large number of Republicans who would
rejoice at his leaving the Cabinet, while an equally
large number were in favour of his remaining. He
thought it would be impolitic and uncalled for, be-
cause he quietly opposed any changes. Secretary
Stanton said that the resolution was evidently
aimed at some one else besides Secretary Seward. If
any one supposed he was responsible for the disas-
ter that had occurred they were mistaken ; that all
the charges made against him were false; that the
President knew that the charge that he was respon-
sible for the movement on Fredericksburg was
groundless; that neither he nor General Halleck
was responsible. Senator Grimes made a fierce on-
slaught upon Mr. Seward. Mr. Fessenden was
firm but determined. The meeting lasted until a
late hour, and adjourned without any result being
accomplished. Secretary Chase, however, tendered
his resignation to the President, in order to place
him in a position to use his own pleasure. Post-
master Blair refused to resign. In all the inter-
views the President defended Mr. Seward warmly,
denying that he had actively interfered with the
military movements, or that his policy had been
detrimental to the conduct of war. He expressed
the most unbounded confidence in Secretaries Stan-
ton and Chase, and thought Secretary Welles had
done all that could be done.
The following extracts from a letter from Mr.
Henry S. Raymond, which was published in the
New York Times, gives an account of the Cabinet
crisis and its causes:—
"On Thursday evening the committee from the
Senate caucus had their first interview with the
President. Senator Collamer, as the chair-
► man, read a brief paper which embodied the senti-
ments of the entire committee. Its general purport
was to urge the importance of a Cabinet which
should be united in its views of public policy, and
which should insist upon a vigorous prosecution of
the war. It avoided all reference to individual
members. After this had been read each member of
the committee expressed his individual views on the
subject; they were such as would naturally be ex-
pected from the antecedents and known opinions of
the several senators. President Lincoln listened
with attention to all that was said. He then ex-
pressed the profound solicitude which he felt on
the subject they had brought before him, and the
overwhelming anxiety which oppressed him con-
cerning the condition of the country and the pro-
gress of the war. What the country wanted, he
said, was military success. Without that nothing
could go right ; with that nothing could go wrong,
He did not yet see how the measure proposed by
the committee would furnish the remedy required;
if he had a Cabinet of angels they could not give the
country military successes, and that was what was
wanted and what must be had. But he promised
his most careful attention to the subject, and an-
other interview was appointed for the next even-
ing in presence of the Cabinet. Last evening
(Friday) this interview took place, and lasted four
hours—Mr. Seward, of course, not being present.
The President at the outset said that what he de-
sired to know was whether more harm or good
would result from the acceptance of Mr. Seward's
resignation, and each member of the committee was
desired to express his opinion, with the grounds on
which it rested, upon that practical point. Mr. Fes-
senden declined to do so, saying he did not feel
called upon to discuss the question. Mr. Grimes de-
clined, because his views were sufficiently under-
stood. Mr. Wade, Mr. Trumbull, and Mr. Sum-
ner were unequivocally for its acceptance. Mr.
Collamer, Mr. Harris, and one or two others
were against it, mainly on the ground
that his exclusion from the Cabinet, under exist-
ing circumstances, would seem to the country
ike the triumph of a faction, and would lead to
still further divisions among the loyal people of the
North, and thus increase rather than diminish the
evils that afflict the country."
A despatch from Washington of the 22d states
that the President had acknowledged the reception
of the resignation of the Secretary of State, Mr,
Seward, and the Secretary to the Treasury, Mr.
Chase, and had informed them that, after due deli-
beration, he had come to the conclusion that the
acceptance of their resignations would be incompa-
tible with the public welfare. The President, there-
fore, requested both Mr, Seward and Mr. Chase to
resume their respective functions as Secretary of
State and Secretary of the Treasury. The two secre-
taries accordingly resumed their places as heads of
theirTh eremsppecotiviveendaenp
and Porter Court of Inquiry was
still proceeding.
From the Army
of the Potomac we have the fol-
lowing despatches:--
! f, Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, Dec. 20.
ig Yesterday morning, about daylight, about 100
of Hampton's rebel cavalry entered Occoquan, and
captured a lieutenant and 30 privates of the 10th
New York Cavalry, who were guarding the tele-
graph lines. Eleven cutlers and six sutlers' Wag..
gone were also seized by the rebels. All is quiet
to-night. Members
of the Sanitary Commission and
others who were at Falmouth on the day succeed

idned
gathse
oldll view, and their uni-
forms
s p
blue
lay
re
colour
that
wasin fall
ground on which our
t
to
the
field until the rebels
had stripped the bodies of their clothing. No new
movements of the enemy have been observed since
we evacuated the south side. Everything
is quiet
along the lines. Although the stock of sutlers in
thi, camp iN nearly exhausted, and supplies are
much needed, it is not deemed judicious by them
to transport their goods by the overland route.
" Falmouth, Dec. 21.
I"This day has been a clear and cold specimen
of Virginia December, and a good specimen of the
Sabbath in the army. Aside from the usual Sun-
day morning inspections, no duty has been required
of the men. Divine service was attended in a few
of the regiments, but the weather was too cold to
secure large audiences.

"Headquarters, Army of the Potomac,
Dec. 23.
" By comparing an official copy of Gen. Burn-
side's report to Gen. Halleck with the publication
of the same in the Washington papers this morning
several important errors are noticed. In the first

paragraph, in the last line but one, the word ' by'

melted, unless, which no one expects, some heaven-
born general shall arise in the interval to lead it to
victory.
The publication of General Burnside's letter, in
which he assumes the entire responsibility of the
unhappy movement against Fredericksburg, has
not satisfied either the army or the public that he
is the proper man to command so large a force.
Everyone admires his courage; everyone applauds
the fearless avowals which he makes in his singular
letter; but most people shake their heads with mis-
trust when they learn that the President has
refused to accept the very proper resigna-
tion of so indiscreet and unfortunate a leader.
There did not need at this time so unlucky a
proof of Mr. Lincoln's kindness of heart
as a man, and his incapacity as a states-
man to deal with great events. It is sufficient for
him that a man does his best in the position in
which he has been placed. General Burnside has
done his best, and, therefore, should neither be
blamed nor displaced. Such appears to be the rea-
soning and the motive in the President's mind ; but
such a course of action is not the one that in the
great crises of a nation's destiny brings out great
soldiers or great statesmen, and that turns the de-
feat of to-day into the victory of to-morrow. Mercy
to proved incompetency may be cruelty to the na-
tion; and to continue General Burnside in chief
command, instead of placing him in that subordi-
nate position where he might achieve success, under
the direction of a more judicious superior, may here-
after cost the lives of thrice as many men as perished
uselessly at Fredericksburg; if not the total col-
lapse and failure of the war.
The seal of secrecy on the objects and destination
of the expedition under General Banks has at length
been removed. The General has gone to Ship
Island to prepare for an attack upon Mobile, and
is to supersede Gen. Butler at New Orleans. But
Gen. Butler, though removed, is not to be dis-
graced. He stands high in the President's estima-
tion—higher even than Mr. Stanton—and is thought
among all the worthy soldiers of the Republic to be
the most worthy of reward and dignity. Perhaps
amid the new complications that are certain to arise
in the Ministry, when the President shall have
either withdrawn, modified, or renewed his procla-
mation of slave emancipation on Jan. I,a place may
be found in the Cabinet for the President's fa-
vourite. Gen. Butler, though odious to the Demo-
cratic party, is the idol of the Republicans and ex-
terminators, and if he were appointed to succeed
Gen. Halleck-..which is not an improbable result—
the appointment would be hailed with delight, not
only by the ultra-Republicans, but by a large class
of people, who look upon vigour as the one thing
needful, and who are content to condone Butler's
numerous offences, in consideration of his great
virtues of strength and firmness, if not of success.
The part which some of the preachers of New
York and New England have played in this war
has not been creditable to their Christian charity.
The Episcopalian and Roman Catholic clergy have
not fanned the flames of dissension, but have for
the most part confined themselves to their proper
function—the cure of souls. Not so the Puritans
and ultra-Evangelicals, of whom the Rev. Dr.
Cheever, the Rev. Mr. Beecher, and the Rev. Dr
Tyng are the types. These gentlemen have made
themselves political partizans, converted their pul-
pits into arenas of strife, and angled for the applause
and sometimes caught the hisses of their congrega-
tions, as playactors do with their audiences. Not
contented with their own liberty, and with the
absence of slavery in the North, they have sought
to enforce their own ideas upon a different people
, living in a different state of society—not-by the in-
fluence of persuasion, but by the aid of the sword,
the rifle, and the torch. They have been intolerant,
persecuting, rabid, and relentless. They have
evinced the spirit of Mahomet and the Caliph Omar,
and of their own Puritanic ancestors who burned
witches in Salem. Were they priests of Rome they
would be Jesuits and Grand Inquisitors, and had
they lived in Spain in the days when the auto da fe
was a recognised institution they would have
burned heretics for the glory of God and the ad-
vancement of truth with all the zeal and gusto of
their prototypes and predecessors. Many of them
hold slavery, intemperance, and the consumption of
animal food to be equally sinful in the sight of
Heaven, and invoke the aid of the civil magistrate
to free the negroes and to prohibit the sale of alco-
hol, if not of mutton chops. They hold it to be
their duty to God and to man to be intolerant
of that which they believe to be pernicious to
the body and hurtful to the soul ; and in the execu-
tion of that supposed duty preach doctrines which
not only tend to prolong and embitter the war in
which their country is engaged, but to destroy all
liberty whatsoever, except such as they may be
graciously pleased to concede to an oppressed peo-
ple. The Rev. Dr. Tyng declared on Thanksgiv-
ing-day from his pulpit that it was not merely the
duty of the clergy to restrain " but to uproot the
crimes of the wicked," and among the crimes of the
wicked he enumerated the holding of negroes in
bondage and the sale or use of alcoholic liquors, both
of which crimes were to be " uprooted," not by the
tongue of the zealous preacher, but by the sword of
the civil magistrate, urged into action by the dicta-
tion of the priest. He did not explain how the
sword of the civil magistrate could be properly em-
ployed in punishing acts recognised to be legal and
constitutional by the very same law which appointed
the civil magistrate and allowed liberty of con-
science and of worship to all men, but simply noti-
fied that if he, and such as he, had the power, they
would usurp the functions of the Executive and es-
tablish a theocracy upon the ruins of the republic.
On Sunday last Dr. Cheever, commenting upon the
disaster at Fredericksburg in the church of the
Puritans, declaimed against the folly of intrusting
the war power to military men, and stated that if
Congress, acting as Dr. Cheever would have had it
act, had passed a decree of universal emaneipation,
all the defeats of the Federal arms would have been
converted into victories. Because this had not
been done by Congress the wrath of God was upon
the Northern people, and would continue to be
upon it. War, he added, was a beneficent power in
proportion to its destructiveness. And as for the
policy of not inciting slaves to insurrection, he
laughed it to scorn. The mischief done by New
England clergymen of this stamp, in originally ex-
asperating the Southern people, and in continuing
to inflame sectional animosities in the North, has
begun to excite the notice and the anger of all who
really love liberty, and who object, as men of Eng-
lish blood and extraction are generally found to do,
to no form of tyranny and domination so greatly
and so abhorrently as to the tyranny and domina-
tion of priests, and has led to the proposal, far more
serious than it appears, to reconstruct the Union
without including the Puritanic State. In alluding
to this subject at the anniversary meeting of the
New England Puritans last night, the Rev. Mr.
Beecher said, according to the report in this morn•
. . _