The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1861,

2111? CIVIL WAR lAT

(From the_Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, DEC. G.

If, unhappily, any of the foreign complications
indicated in the President's Message should force
the power which conceives itself injured to demand
satisfaction, this Government is so feeble that it
dare not avert the greatest calamity by an honour-
able and just reparation and concession in the face
of the arrogant demos which neither knows its own
danger nor, in its passionate selfishness, regards
the feelings of any nation of which it is jealous or
suspicious. The men who are engaged in conduct-
ing this war against the South in the field or in the
forum have but one cry—" Let us alone till we carry
this thing through ; do not interfere with us ; all
the favour we ask is that you stand by and permit
us to finish this rebellion in our own way." An
intervention of any kind, a war abroad, or the
chance of it, would be a fair excuse for the politi-
cians of the North to attribute the failure of their
projects to the country from which it comes, and to
direct the whole hostility of the American people
into a new channel. But, without pretending to
discern the course of events, or the combinations
which might arise in the course of the conflict, con-
sidering the animosity of the South towards Eng-
land—if she were the Power engaged in the strife
—and the sympathies which connect a large mass of
the Democratic party with the Southern politicians,
it is not quite beyond the range of possibility
that a compromise or truce might arise, in which
the Republican party would be either defeated
or forced to desperate extremities, and that
eventually a reconfederation might be effected,
the animating principle of which would be
resistance to the enemy. Now, it may be at
once understood that, without any manner of
doubt, the seeds of dissolution are sown and are
rapidly germinating in the Northern States them-
selves. Ido not mean, of course, that the States
are moribund. But the political system is doomed.
In what form the new tree of liberty may grow
none can pretend to predict. Success is as fatal as
defeat. Already, before the Union is safe, the De-
mocrats and Republicans are renewing their old
contentions, and, as was apparent months ago, the
fight between Slavery and Abolition is carried
into the President's Cabinet itself, into the Senate,
into every community except two or three of the
New England States, where Republican principles
have it all their own way. Read the proceedings
in the Senate and the House, and the fact is appa-
rent—the schism is rapidly approaching. Sup-
pose the North, having blockaded, blocked up, or
destroyed every Southern port, should force its way
down the Mississippi, defeat the Confederates at
Columbus and Memphis, take New Orleans, and
sweep the armies of the South from Richmond to
the Sabine, the question which has arisen at the
very first step of its career will accumulate difficul-
ties at every pace, till it comes to the tremendous
problem, " 'What are we to do with the slaves ?"
That question is asked now, when there are but
a few hundreds. As to the mode and nature of
the reply, there are fierce dissensions and radical
differences of opinion. But what will the practical
difficulty and the angry controversy come to when
within the lines of the Federal troops there are
4,000,000 emancipated negroes? For the theory
of the Republicans is that emancipation is the ne-
cessary result of the contact of this sort of Southern
property with the forces of the Southern States,
and they are contending with all their might for
the adoption and assertion of that principle by the
President, and they are doing so with success,
because the course of events 'favours them. The
Democrats, in their new-born zeal for the so-
vereignty of the Union over State rights, have
persuaded themselves that there are millions of
white men in the South who will join them the
moment it is demonstrated tliat Mr. Jefferson Davis
and his advisers are beaten. The South is the victim
of a delusion which can only be dissipated by the
success of the North over the Generals and armies
of the Government of Richmond. Then it shall
hear a voice of encouragement and entreaty—" Be
not afraid. We will give you all you ask—every
guarantee the Constitution offers, and anything
more you require ; only acknowledge the Union ;
say that you will live with us in a common coun-
try ; and then you and we will make war on the
common enemy at home as well as abroad." As
the armies advance, however,—at the present rate
the problem is a long way off,—the Federalists
must come in contact with every slave in the South
if their hypothesis of conquest be correct. Is the
North about to become a great slave-owning Power ?
If not, what will it do with the slaves ? The De-
mocrats and the vanquished South will have some-
thing to say tothe Republicans who insist on eman-
cipation on that point. If the slaves of rebels be
confiscated, and if the mass of the people of the
South prove to be rebels, Congress has already de-
cided apart of the matter. But what does confis-
cation mean ? Are they to sell the slaves ? To
whom, then, and under what conditions ? Property
of any other sort can be confiscated ; the thing can
be sold without shame or discredit, and the pro-
ceeds turned into national capital. But, in accord-
ance with its own principles, the North cannot take
that course in regard to living, human chattels.
Neither can it, even if it had possession, assign the
soil of the South to the slaves, and admit their citi-
zenship, nor can it become the proprietor of a vast
Liberia on its own borders. The thing has been so
fenced round with guarantees and constitutional
rights—the cancer has been so cherished and
nursed as- it grew up in the system—that it
threatens to destroy the whole body politic,
" -lVec sine to nee cum to possum vivere." Eman-
cipation without provision for future existence
and present wants would be a monstrous cruelty.
The North will have none of the slaves. It is
like a member of the Humane Society who pro
secutes a costermonger for ill-using a mangy
donkey, but who has no intention of providing the
donkey with quarters for life in his stable. An
emigration scheme which shall remove 4,000,000
human beings from one continent to another
is beyond the means of the United States—it
is too vast for execution, if not for comprehen-
sion, by any Power on the face of the earth.
And now let me say in reference to this matter a
few words which events may prove true more
speedily than I anticipate. It is said that early
next year the bolt which the North is forging will
be ready. But the arm which was to have hurled
it may be paralysed before the first day of the new
ytlt isaryv afii Ina
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ing in this country. Mr. Chase cannot avert it.
Before 1862 opens the Government of the United
States will be driven to the expedient of a national
cGuorvreernnc, myenatn d p a
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tem of the country must fall with a crash, which
will carry dismay and ruin through the land.
Foreign loans are out of the question. Taxation at
home seems to be considered impossible, unless it
be taken by indirection, which shall fasten the sys-
tem of protection on the vitals of the States. At
the present moment the army is paid in gold or in
notes, which the men remit to their friends at
home, where a considerable proportion of the paper
finds its way into the Treasury, and is changed
there for gold. But the sums which are outstand-
ing as claims against the Government are prodi-
gious beyond belief. If the patriotism of the people
will stand a contribution from their accumulated
capital the war may be sustained a little longer, and
any considerable advantage will encourage the
Unionists to make present sacrifices.

it is doubtful how far these sacrifices would be
made, nor is there any datum agreed upon for
determining the amounc of money in the country.
As the export of cereals has now nearly reached
its close for the year, the cereals from the West
being ;shut up by winter, tied as the North, not•

withstanding its wise economy, must continue to
take some articles of luxury or necessity from
Europe, the exchange will soon rise, and gold will
begin to flow out of the country to France and
England. Everything indicates a speedy sus-
pension of specie payments, the issue of a
national unredeemable currency—the greatest diffi-
culty among the banks. The best informed people
believe that Mr. Chase has no alternative, and that
to the system of Government banking which he has
already established in issuing Treasury notes pay-
able in gold on demand, but not forced on the people
as legal consideration, he will be compelled to add
a vast issue of paper which shall be made a legal
tender. Just in proportion as he is tempted to
make money out of nothing, and to exceed the actual
wants of the country for such a currency in order
to appear to be rich, must he be prepared for the
depreciation of the issue, and the consequent de-
preciation of all securities with it—not necessarily
on the instant, but nevertheless inevitable. The
security which can be offered is in success ; but if
success be attended with the dangers pointed out,
and with future complications, there may be hesi-
tation in accepting it. The Secretary of the Trea-
sury sees these difficulties as clearly as any man,
but he must meet them in some way or other, and
I have reason to think that this scheme will be
ready in a day or two, when the world can judge of
the financial prospects of the United States Govern-
ment. As to their military position, I have little
say in addition to what may be learnt from the
papers and the telegrams. The Federal army on
the Potomac is fast hutting itself, whether the
General intends it to winter there or not. The eight
divisions which sweep in a semicircle on the Vir-
ginia side of the river, from its banks above Drains•
ville to Hunting Creek, below Alexandria, render
the capital secure, and the Confederate General who
attacked the lines directly in force could not fail
to be repulsed by the mere fire of the guns of posi-
tion, unless he were favoured by a panic or singular
want of capacity and ordinary courage on the part
of his opponents more than by any possible display
of steadiness and daring of his own troops. But,
admitting that Banks, higher up the stream, has
25,000 men—an extreme supposition—and that
that Dix and Sickles, in Maryland and the eastern
shore of Virginia, have an adequate force to keep
down insurrection—and to protect their positions
from attack, I cannot see here any force which
could be spared to go into the open and
give battle to the enemy in front of Manassas, or
which could operate against the flanks of his posi-
tion, and still leave a sufficient garrison in the ex-
traordinary series of defensive works in front of
Washington. It is plain enough, I think, that
General M'Clellan and his advisers think the Con-
federate army will be frittered away by contingents
being sent to the defence of the coasts and maritime
cities, and to aid the Secessionists in Kentucky
and Tennessee, and that at last the substance of the
army shall be so far absorbed that the Federalists
can readily pierce the thin crust that remains. The
Confederates, however, must be quite well aware of
a danger so obvious and of a policy so transparent.
If all the expeditions terminate as that to Hatteras
has done, or as that to Port Royal promises to do,
they have little to fear from the seacoast beyond an
aggravation of the evils of the blockade to which
they are gradually becoming either hardened or re-
signed. But from the information I receive as to a
great preparation of large mortars (17,0001 b.
weight) and material, I am inclined to think that
against . Fort Pulaski and similar works serious
attempts will be made as soon as the batteries can
be got ready. The combined operations of Confede-
rates and Federalists have rendered the approaches
to the cities by water impracticable, or will speedily
do so. The result seems to be that the Federalists,
abandoning their advantages by water, will force
themselves to attack the cities by land, where their
enemy will have the advantage of them. Thus if
they take Port Pulaski they cannot go by water to
Savannah; the channel is blocked up- They will
soon render Sumter an inland fort by closing up the
entrance to Charleston, unless Hr. Welles has his
cuirassed floating battery in readiness to test the
strength of that redoubtable work and its aide-de-
camp Fort Pinckney. As the railway between
Charleston and Savannah has been left in the hands of
the enemy, they can easily move troops and make
defensive preparations against any inland movement
till the Federalists take heart to march out of their
works at Hilton Head in the search of Union and
cotton. There are more " Rat-hole" squadrons being
fitted out, and the outer coast line of the South will
soon be continuous, and make the inner sea a
mare mortuum—a delightful way of promoting the
commercial property and cabotage of the Union. If
all be fair in war the United States is acting fairly
in this war for the Union, and we may see it driven
to adopt the same means against its rebellious sub-
jects that were employed by the King of Naples at
Palermo with exactly the same justification. On
the Potomac matters are unchanged, the enemy
still occupy their batteries below the city and hold
the United States squadron in check at Indian
Head above and Mathias below. But now and then
a fleet of little oyster and lumber boats fly up in the
night and run past the batteries,
keeping well in to
the Maryland side, and occasionally receiving a
harmless fire. A small steamer is also established
between Sickles' camp and Washington, which
scrapes along the friendly shore up and down twice
a-week. At Fortress Monroe some excite-
ment had been created by the bold appearance of
an iron-plated steamer out of James River, which
engaged the Federal gunboats at long range, and
created a stir in the whole squadron. It was either
an attempt to run the blockade, or to drive away
ennui. At Fort Pickens all is quiet again ; nobody
is hurt ; at least there has been a great deal of
powder and shot wasted, with little or no loss. The
extent of hypothetical damage is
great; if the ac-
tion had gone on many things would have hap-
pened we are assured which have not come to pass.
The magazine at Fort M'Ree (Confederate)
"caved in"—whatever that may be—Warrington
navy yard was not destroyed, and both Brown and
Bragg are quite cool and confident, and ready for
another tussle. The latter accuses the former of
firing on his hospital, but the former points out that
the latter had placed his sick in a building which
was right on a line with his principal battery. The
pretty naval station has, no doubt, suffered deface-
ment, but the range is too long to do any great
mischief. At New Orleans all is quiet, and Cap-
tain Hollins has gone up to direct naval operations
at Memphis and Columbus, against the Federal
flotilla, which is to be ready in three or four weeks,
The correspondent of one newspaper asserts posi-
tively that General Halleck does not intend to go
down the Mississippi at all, but that he is going up
the Tennessee, and that he will thence proceed with
75,000 men in the rear of Columbus and Hickman
towards Memphis. By this bold manoeuvre he will
deprive himself of the aid of his gunboats, and move
down in the heart of the enemy's country with a
strong army on the right flank of his line of
march. The correspondent can scarcely be aware
of the difficulty of moving 75,000 men with bag-
gage, munitions, food, and stores through a hostile
and difficult region. Should General Halleck suc-
ceed, he will then co-operate with General Buell,
who, with an army on paper of 60,000 men, is to
march from Louisville through Kentucky on to
Nashville. At Paducah there has been a very
strange exhibition, which is more significant in its
political aspect than in its military bearings, how-
ever discreditable to discipline the circumstance
may seem. General Smith, an officer of the regular
army, who commands at Paducah, having heard
that an officer and some men belonging to Brigadier-
General Wallace's command had entered the house
of a reputed Secessionist, and hoisted the stars and
stripes, sent his aide-de-camp to General Wallace
to request him to order the removal of the flag.
General Wallace refused to obey the order ! addirg
that the flag should not be removed while there was

a man alive in his brigade ! His aide-de-camp
added that the Secessionists should sleep under a
loyal flag one night, any how. General smith's
aide retorted that he did not think that would be
any great honour. Whereupon General Wallace's
aide-de camp knocked General Smith's aide-de camp
down. The paper from which this astounding story
is taken adds that the " men " had expressed the
greatest indignation against General Smith ; and
further, that another of that officer's subordinates,
General Paine, had sent word to General Wallace
that he might rely on the forces under his command
in case of a difficulty. The dissension, however,
commences in the Cabinet itself, where Mr. Cameron,
the Secretary of War, is making a bold bid to take
the lead out of the hands of all his fellows, and to
head the Republican party on the question of
abolition. The Secretary is one of those remark-
able men who are developed, or who de-
velope themselves, so wonderfully in the States.
By incessant labour, by vast energy and industry,
he raised himself from profound obscurity to high
station and great wealth, Untravelled, he knows
men and manners as well as Ulysses for all his own
purposes, and has an insight into character, a tact,
and address which many a veteran diplomatist
might envy. Whether he is right in his judgment
or not, he evidently believes the Union is to be
saved by destroying slavery ; and, having in vain
endeavoured to force the President to an expression
of his opinion to the same effect, he adopted a bold
expedient to state the differences which existed
between him and the head of the State before the,
country. On Monday last the members of the as-
sociated press were furnished with copies of the
proposed report of the Secretary of War, in sealed
packages, with instructions not to open them until
the President's Message should be in process of de-
livery. From time to time during Monday and
Tuesday despatches were received by the associa-
tion, instructing them not to use this report until
specially advised by the President. After midnight
on Tuesday night, the association received a para-
graph, to be substituted for certain portions of the
report, and, with that substitution, were authorised
to publish the whole. The tribune publishes the
draught report as originally sent, and prints the
modifications it was directed to make in a separate
article. The account of the transaction from the
Washington correspondent of the New York ni-
bune, which there is every ground to think authen-
tic, is this :
" The Secretary presented his report to Mr. Lincoln on
Saturday. On Sunday afternoon he mailed it to the prin-
cipal papers of the North and West, as is customary on the
day preceding the reading of the Message. On Sunday
night the President, having found time to read it, found it
not in his heart to agree with the Secretary's doctrine of the
right and duty to make a military use of the slaves of rebels
—to arm them, if necessary—and in all ways to use
them as we would any other property of the rebels to
suppress the rebellion. He sent for Mr. Cameron, and re-
quired him to suppress this whole portion of his report, on
the ground that its recommendation was premature and ill-
timed. The Secretary promptly and resolutely refused to
suppress a word of it. The discussion between them was
protracted. It ended as it began, the President insisting
upon the alterati n, and the Secretary respectfully but firmly
refusing to change a syllable of the recommendations. A.
subsequent interview in the afternoon had a similar con-
clusion of debate, but a new and strange conclusion of
Executive will. The President announced his purpose to
strike out the entire passage about the emancipation and
arming of the slaves before sending in the report with his
Message to Congress. Mr. Cameron declared he should not
recall or suppress the document in the hands of Northern
and Western editors, and that the printers were at liberty
to do with his report what they pleased."

As originally printed, that portion of the Secre-
tary's report relating to slavery read as follows :

" It is already a grave question, what shall be done with
those slaves who are abandoned by their owners on the
advance if our troops into Southern territory, as at Beau.
fort district, in South Carolina. The whole white popula-
tion therein is 6,000, while the number of negroes exceeds
32,000. The panic which drove their masters in wild con-
fusion from their homes leaves them in undisputed posses-
sion of the soil. Shall they, armed by their masters, be
placed in the field to light against us, or shall their labours
be continually employed in reproducing the means of sup-
porting the armies of the rebellion ? The war into which
this Government has been forced by rebellious traitors is
carried on for the purpose of repossessing the property vio-
lently and treacherously seized upon by the enemies of the
Government, and to re-establish the authority and laws of
the United States in the places where it is opposed or
overthrown by armed insurrection or rebellion. Its pur-
pose is to defend and recover what is justly its own. War,
even between independent nations, is made to subdue the
enemy, and all that belongs to that enemy, by occupying
the hostile country, and exercising dominion over all the
men and things within its territory. This being true in
respect to independent nations at war with each other, it
follows that rebels who are labouring by force of arms to
overthrow a Government, justly bring upon themselves all
the consequences of war, and provoke the destruction me-
rited by the worst of crimes. That Government would be
false to national trust, and would justly excite the ridicule
of the civilised world, that would abstain from the use of
any efficient means to preserve its own existence, or to
overcome a rebellious and traitorous enemy, by sparing or
protecting the property of those who are waging war against
it. The principal wealth and power of the rebel States is a
peculiar species of property, consisting of the service or
labour of African slaves, or the descendants of Africans.
This property has been variously estimated at the value of
from 700,000,000 to 800,000,000 dols. Why should this
property be exempt from the hazards and consequences of a
rebellious war ? It was the boast of the leader of the:re-
bellion, while he yet had a seat in the Senate of the United
States, that the Southern States would be comparatively
safe and freefrom the burdens of war, if it should be brought
on by the contemplated rebellion, and that boast was accom-
panied by the savage threat that ' Northern towns and cities
would become the victims of rapine and military spoil, and
that Northern men should smell Southern gunpowder and
feel Southern steel.' No one doubts the disposition of the
rebels to carry that threat into execution. The wealth of
Northern towns and cities, the produce of Northern farms,
Northern workshops and manufactories, would certainly be
seized, destroyed, or appropriated as military spoil. No pro-
perty in the North would be spared from the hands of the
rebels, and their rapine would be defended under the laws
of war. While the loyal States thus have all their property
and possessions at stake, are the insurgent rebels to carry on
warfare against Government in peace and security to their
own property ? Reason, justice, and self-preservation forbid
that such should be the policy of this Government, but
demand, on the contrary that, being forced by traitors and
rebels to the extremity of war, all the rights and powers of
war should be exercised to bring it to a speedy end. Those
who make :war against the Government justly forfeit all
rights of property, privilege, or security derived from the
Constitution and laws, against which they are in armed
rebellion ; and, as the labour and service of their slaves con-
stitute the chief property of the rebels, such property should
share the common fate of war, to which they have devoted
the property of loyal citizens. While it is plain that the
slave property of the South is justly subjected to all the
consequences of this rebellious war, and that the Govern-
ment would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the
rights and powers of war to bring it to a speedy close, the
details of the plan for doing so, like all other military mea-
sures, must, in a great degree, be left to be determined by
particular exigencies. The disposition of other property
belonging to the rebels that becomes subject to our arms is
governed by the circumstances of the case. The Govern-
ment has no power to hold slaves, none to restrain a slave of
his liberty or to exact his service. It has a right, however,
to use the voluntary service of slaves liberated by war from
their rebel masters, like any other property of the rebels,
in whatever mode may be most efficient for the defence of
the Government, the prosecution of the war, and the sup-
pression of the rebellion. It is as clearly the right of the
Government to arm slaves, when it may become necessary,
as it is to use gunpowder taken from the enemy. Whether
it is expedient to do so is purely a military question. The
right is unquestionable by the laws of war. The expediency
must be determined by circumstances, keeping in view the
great object of overcoming the rebcls, re-establishing the
laws, and restoring peace. It is vainand idle for the Govern-
ment to carry on this war, or hope to maintain its existence
against a rebellious force, without employing all the rights
and powers of war. As has been said, the right to deprive the
rebels of their property in slaves and slave labour is as clear
and absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton
from the warehouse, or powder and arms from the maga-
zine. To leave the enemy in the possession of such pro-
perty as forage and cotton and military stores, and the
means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness.
It is therefore equal l madness to leave them in peaceful
and secure possession of slave property, more valuable and
efficient to them for war than forage, cotton, and military
stores. Such policy would be national suicide. What to do
with that species of property is a question that time and cir-
cumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further
than to repeat that they cannot be held by the Government
as slaves, It would be useless to keep them as prisoners

PRICE ..... ...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

of war, and self-preservation, the highest duty of a Go-
vernment or of individuals, demands that they should be
disposed of or employed in the most effective manner that
will tend most speedily to suppress the insurrection and
styltfheit
found
dre thetha authority
that
themenwohfothheaveGboeveenrnhmeeldnt.b
rebelsall
ba
se
slaves are capable of bearing arms and performing efficient
military service, it is the right and may become the duty of
the Government to arm and equip them, and employ their
services against the rebels, under proper military regula-
tion, discipline, and command. But in whatever manner
they may be used by the Government, it is plain that, once
lioerated by the rebellious act of their masters, they should
never again be restored to bondage. By the master's treason
and rebellion he forfeits all right to the labour and service
of his slave ; and the slave of the rebellious master, by his
service to the Government, becomes justly entitled to free-
dom and protection. The disposition to be made of slavery
by rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the
wisdom and patriotism of Congress. The representatives of
the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slave-
holders every right to which they are entitled under the
Constitution of the country."

After the original report had been printed the
following modification was made, the appended
paragraph being substituted for the whole of the
above :
" It is already a grave question what shall be done with
those slaves who are abandoned by their owners on the ad-
vance of our troops into Southern territory, as at Beaufort
district, in South Carolina. The number left within our
control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases
will probably occur. What shall be done with them ? Can
we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by
them armed against us, or used in producing supplies to
sustain the rebellion ? Their labour may be useful to us.
,Withheld from the enemy, it lessens his military resources,
and withholding them has no tendency to induce the hor-
rors of insurrection even in the rebel communities. They
constitute a military resource, and being such, that they
should not be turned over to the enemy is too plain to dis-
cuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and vo-
luntarily give him men to produce supplies. The disposition
to be made of the slaves of rebels after the close of the war
can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
The representatives of the people will unquestionably secure
to the loyal slaveholders every right for which they are en-
titled under the Constitution of the country."

Mr. Cameron has received the congratulations
and promises of support of the advanced Republi-
cans in Congress and out of it, and the words and
acts of the most influential members of both houses
certainly indicate a strong policy tending towards
abolition. Already it is proposed to abolish slavery
in the district of Columbia, and Mr. Sumner and
others have denounced in eloquent or energetic lan-
guage the local police and prisons, which under a
system derived from Maryland, and inspired by
slavery, have been rendered subservient to the in-
terests of the slaveholders. It is stated, for instance,
that men who have gone off to Secessia, and are now
fighting the Federal troops inVirginia, coolly lodged,
their slaves in gaol here, in order that they might be
kept safely for them till they came back, and
these said gaols are described as being disgraceful
to any semi-barbarous country. The police acting
on their old :inspirations and orders have received
a severe shock.

On Wednesday a letter was addressed by Mr.
Seward, under the direction of the President, to
General M'Clellan, calling his attention to the fact
that slaves coming within the terms of the Confis-
cation Act, and escaping within the military lines
of the army of the Potomac, were arrested by the
city police, " upon the presumption, arising from
colour, that they are fugitives from service and
labour." The President directs that escaped slaves
of the description referred to shall be regarded as
" received into the military protection of the
United States," and he threatens with "military
arrest " whoever shall undertake to seize such
slaves and deal with them as "fugitives from ser-
vice."
As General M'Clellan has issued an order in con-
formity with the instructions of MT. Seward, it i
probable that the city police will abstain altogethei
from arresting any coloured persons from Virginia,
and when the news is spread abroad Washington
will witness an extraordinary accession to its negro
population, already very numerous. The blacks
are beginning to bestir themselves, and to look for
better times. In the " City of Brotherly Love,"
they have sent round the following curious petition,
which throws some light on their social status in
Free States :

" To the Board of Managers of the various City Passenger

Cars.

" The coloured citizens of Philadelphia suffer very serious
inconvenience and hardship daily by being excluded from
riding in the city passenger cars. In New York city, and
in all the principal Northern cities, except Philadelphia,
they ride; even in New Orleans (although subject to some
proscription) they ride in the cars. Why, then, should they
be excluded in Philadelphia,—in a city standing so pre-emi-
nently high for its benevolence, liberality, love of freedom,
and Christianity as the City of Brotherly Love? Coloured
people pay more taxes here than is paid by the same class
in any other Northern city. The members of the Social
and Statistical Association, although numbering less than
50 members, pay annually about 5,000 doll. into the tax col-
lector's office. Therefore the undersigned respectfully peti-
tion that the various boards of the city passenger cars rescind
the rules indiscriminately excluding coloured persons from
the inside of the cars."

In Congress the Abolition sentiment is feebly
restrained by the expectation of future triumphs.
Mr. Breckinridge has been expelled by the body
from which he has already expelled himself, and Mr.
Barnett was similarly treated in the Lower House.
Abolition petitions and speeches have been pre-
sented and made. A motion, which will be carried
in an amended form, has been received with favour
for the appointment of a committee to inquire into
the cause of the disasters at Bull's•run and elsewhere,
but an attempt made by Mr. Lane to include Gen.
Fremont's conduct in reference to the defeat of
Gen. Lyon and the surrender of Lexington was not
agreed to. Colonel Miles, who was found guilty of
intoxication at the battle of Manassas by a Court
of Inquiry, which decided that he ought not to be
punished for the offence, is not to escape so readily,
and a resolution to investigate his case, moved by
Mr. Grimes, was adopted in the Senate yesterday
(Thursday, Dec. 5). Mr. Trumbull made a long and
strong speech in bringing in a bill to the Senate
for the confiscation of slaves and other property of
Confederates, a report of which will be found in the
American journals. Mr. Gurley made a flank
attack on the military authorities in the House of
Representatives by a resolution, to be referred to
the Judiciary Committee, to inquire into the censor-
ship of the press in the capital as exercised in the
transmission of telegraphs, and to ascertain if it
had not been perverted to prevent just comment
and criticism under the pretence of withholding in-
formation from the enemy. The House eventually
resolved itself into a committee to consider the
State of the Union.

With a bad grace the President will be forced
at last to accede to an exchange of prisoners by
popular feeling, but the condemnation of Mr. Slidell
and Mr. Mason to a fellon's cell will not facilitate
their approaches. It is quite out of the power of
the Northern mind to comprehend how deeply the
Yankees are detested by the Confedzrates, and how
desperate is their resolve to be free from any inter-
course or connexion with them. The expeditions
along the coast exasperate the bold, while they
carry dismay to the more timid, but the latter are
not more yielding than the former. They will in-
sist on being treated as equals. It will be observed
in Mr. Willes's report that he praises Captain
Wilkes for seizing Slidell and Mason as political
offenders, and does not attribute any ambassadorial
character to them. They are merely citizens be-
longing to rebellious States. How will Mr. Willes
act when he is called upon to make arrangements
for an exchange of prisoners under a flag of truce
at Fortress Monroe ? While the Federalists style
the people of the Southern States " rebels" the lat-
ter affect to regard the former as Lincoln's mercena-
ries. Their papers describe the sea coast expeditions
as " John Brown raids ou a vast scale," and exclaim
that " Lincoln, Cameron, Seward, and Sherman are
as fit for the gibbet as old John Brown himself. "The
planters are said to be burning and destroying their
cotton all along the coast. Alas ! for the Confede-
rat° cotton bonds based thereon. They are le-