Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-12-19
From Washington.

From Washington,
Gen. Mcclellan has issued an order,
directing the officers in charge of the
military prisons in this city to confine
no civilian who is not regularly com.
mittcd by a magistrate, and no sol
der except a dcserter, or those arrest
ed by patrols, without special orders
from headquarters. This will be the
means of checking o very serious
offence.
About sixty gentlemen were pres
ent at the Republican caucns. Final
ly the pending resolution Of Repre-
sentative Bingham was unanimously
adopted. 1t provides for the confisca-
ton of all property of the rebels in
arms, and all who aid and abet Thorn,
and tho unconditional emancipation
of their slaves.
The President has declined to com
municatc to Congress any commune
cations addressed by the governments
of England, France and Spain in re
gard to the armed intervention pro
posed by them in the affairs of Next
CO. He deems that it is incxpedien
at this exigency to do so.
Senator Sumner has read to Mr.
Cameron, burning letter from Gov
ernor Andrew, demonstrating agains
the employment of Massachusetts,
soldiers as "slave catchcrs." Mr.
Cameron promised to write to General
Stone to desist from the practice.
Secretary Welles has withheld hi
approval from the court martiaPs yer
dict acquitting Commander Charles
Ii. Poor, tried for letting the Sumter
escape from New Orleans. He can
not be tried again, nor can the dccis
ion be reversed, but he stands con
demned by a court Of inquiry, and BY
the Secretary, Of gross neglect ant
Encouragement. ...a
The Government has advices tha
the rebels have strengthened thei
line on the Occoquan by seventy-fivt
thousand men from South Virginia
The roads are now excellent.
Officers high in rank are renewedly
protesting against the present inactiv
ity Of the army, and are urging ar
advance. The army is rapidly losing
what it has gained, in this long con
timed idleness.
VIM. II. johnson, of the Lincoln
Cavalry, who was taken in the act o
deserving, has been sentenced to bt
shot, and will be executed at . time
to be fixed by General Franklin, the
division commander. His crime il
fragrant according to his own comics
sion. He entered the army in order
to desert, that he might thus reach
New Orleans, where his mother re.
sides.
The Navy Department invites pro.
posals for furnishing, fitting and Sc
curing to vcsscls-of.war iron plates
fifteen and half feet in length, to
have planned edges and coantersunl
holes, bent to the shape Of the YES
sells from stem to stern, and fastened
to the timber with conical headed
bolts of one and half inches in di.
ametcr. 1t is understood that the
Department designs to thus clothe the
vcsscls-of- with the least possible
delay.
The commander of the U. S. gun
boat Iroquois is to blame for the es
cape of the Sumter. The Captain o
the gunboat sent man on shore a
St. Thomas with signal lights ant
gave him instructions to signalize t.
him the movements Of the Sumter, ant
on the night of Nov. 23d, signals wer,
made by the man on shore that sh'
was leaving the harbor. but no notice
was taken of it by the Captain of thu
Iroquois. His First Lieutenant triet
to persuade him to give chase, which
they could easily have done, as thu
Sumter drew one foot more watc
than the Iroquois, but he would no
hear to it, saying that it would b,
very unpleasant for him to capture
her, as he and Capt. Scmmcs had beer
school-mates and had sailed very
much together; and Capt. Scmmcs
had been his superior officer. Another
reason that the Captain Of the Iroquois
gave was that he did not wish Il
break the neutrality laws. The move
ments Of the Sumter were seen from
the deck Of the Iroluois.
Godey's Lady's Book for January 1881, ha
been received. 1t has sixty engravings, tire,