The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-04-05

she Nesy ana war Dep0rtmchss'
BY the telegraphic dispatches from Washing
ton. which we publish to-day and published
yesie lay and the day before, and by In
telligence from all points Of the compass,
including the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, 1t
appears that the policy of mastery In
activity" of which we have had 30 much expe-
rience of late, has given place to UNUSUAL bus
tie and excitement at the White House, In the
War and Navy Departments, and at various
naval and military posts throughout the country.
General Scott is clos ed for hours with the
Cabinet Movements o. troops and war ships
are ordered. Artillery companies and corps
of sappers and miners leave Washington for
New York, and General Sumner suddenly
leaves for the same city, and "perhaps for
the South, to command the troops which are
being concentrated there" General Scotts
private secretary also leaves upon secret ex-
petition. In the Navy Department numerous
orders are issued, and every available ship is
to be called home. The Minnesota has been or
dered from Boston to the mouths OF the Missis-
sippi; the Powhatan, the Release and the Perry
are directed to proceed South, and sealed or
ders have been despatched to the Cumberland,
Pocahontas and Dolphin at Hampton Roads.
1t Is thus evident that there is something in
the wind, but what it is nobody knows. One
correspondent telegraph That it has reference
to the Spanish movements in St. Domingo,
while the Spanish agents and all the foreign
Ministers in Washington say there is nothing
whatever in those movements; and the proba-
bility is that the story is got up to divert
attention and cover very different designs Of
the government. A second correspondent says
the troops are destined for the mouths Of the
Mississippi; third that their destination is to
collect the revenue at the entrance to every
Southern port on the decks of ships-of war,
contrary to the laws of Congress; fourth in
sists that Pensacola Bay is the place Of rendez-
vous, and that the reinforcement of Fort
Pickens, which the federal troops cannot hold,
even if it should be reinforced, is the real OBJ.
ject Of the orders and preparations now going
forward. 1t is also suggested that grand
a view to the reinforcement Of Fort Sumter
and the recovery of Fort Moultrie.
Which of all these points, or whether any of
them, has been selected as the theatre Of war,
and for the display of the sudden and unex-
pected energy of the government, is mere mat
ter of conjecture. What the Southern army
is doing and what are the objects of its
movements everybody knows There is no
mystery at Montgomery. The possession Of
Forts Sumter and Pickens is the avowed inten
ton of President Davis and his Cabinet. But
when the nation turns to Washington to look
for information as to the design of the military
and naval preparations of the Northern gov
eminent, it is met either with mysterious 81
lence, or conflicting stories, or ambiguous ut
terances, like the responses Of the Delphic
oracles.
Now, the effect of an this mystery, so
foreign to the genius Of republican govern
ment, is most disastrous to the whole coun-
try. AS to the North with its idle capital,
its surplus breadstuffs and its enterprising
spirit chatting for employment, the policy Of the
administration is most ruinous to it. All the
operations of trade and commerce and manu-.
features are paralyzed and fettered by uncer-
tainty, which is more fatal to business inte-
rests than the worst reality. Merchants
cannot make their calculations, aud
dare not invest till they have some idea of
what is before them. If it be war, they will
know what 70 do. If it be peace, they will
promptly act accordingly. But suspense is
death to all enterprise. So destructive to the
public welfare is the conduct of the administra-
ton that the people of the North will not
stand 1t much longer.
In the South the know nothing, do-nothing
policy of Mr.. Lincoln's administration is equal
ly obnoxious. 1t compels the confederacy to
keep up standing army at a terrible expense.
At the lowest calculation the cost of maintain
ing ten thousand men for the year is five mil
lions of dollars. The Confederate States will
no longer submit to this expense without COM
ing to blows; and the irritating, tantalizing
course Of our government and their marchings
and countermarchings, will probably soon
drive the Cabinet at Montgomery into solu-
ton of the difficulty, by taking the initiative
and capturing the two forts in its waters held
by United States troops.
This we have no doubt is what Mr.. Lincoln
wants, for it would give him the opportunity
of throwing upon the Southern confederacy
the responsibility of commencing hostilities.
But the country and posterity will hold
him just as responsible as if he struck
the first blow. The provocation to as
sault is often more culpable than the as
sault itself. In the same way he shirks
his responsibility in the case of Fort Sum-
ter. AT half dozen Cabinet meetings it
has been decided, and that, too, with the con-
currence of General Scott, that ne evacuation
of the fort is military necessity. Yet Mr..
Lincoln will not give the order for its evacua-
ton, lest it should be placed on the record
against him; and he prefers to allow Major An
darcop N no gtarypd ont or lr,~o,. o,t Z, tho