Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-12-06
From Washington.
Especial Correspondence Of the CHICAGO Times.I
WASHINGTON, November 30

and Northampto Counties, in Virginia, is in |
this city, for the purpose of laying before the
President certain representations in regard TO |
the state of feeling among the Union men in
that and other Southern States. 0ne Of them,
a gentleman Of undoubted veracity, informs
me that there is similar deputation here from
North Carolina, and that they are awaiting the |
arrival of two we'll known citizens of Georgia. |
who are en- route, and expected here every day,
in order that they may all call upon the Presi-
dent together, in company with Emerson Ethe.
ridge and another gentleman from Tennessee,
and several prominent Union men from Ken
tucky. The state of facts which they will lay
before the President will be somewhat as fol-
lows, and every fact will be subStantiated by
the best evidence:
They will show that the Union men Of the
States of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, form a
large proportion Of the population Of those
States; that they have been led to believe that
the object of the present war was as much the
ex,irpation ofslavery the Os'ruction Of the
Union; that it was war against slavery and
say eholders; and that TO effect this end, large
| quantities OF the speeches Of Trumbull, Lovejoy,
Chandler, and Wade, and of the proclamation
Of Fremont, have been scattered profdsely
among the Union men of all the Southern
| States, accompanied by accounts Of the wanton
| destruction of the property of Union men, lin.
cludipg pianos, mirrors, and rich furniture and
books,) in many parts of Virginia by Union
troops-ef the enticing Of thousands of slaves
| away from their masters by other Union ar
mies-and of the brutal exeesses of jim Lane
| snd his marauders in Western Missouri. They
| will ask the President to Issue manifesto on
fbe subject to the Union men of the South.
The ground which they wish him to take is,
| that the war is for the reconstruction Of the
Union: tba', in its future prosecution, they and
their property shall net be molested; that no
slave shall be allowed to come within the lines
of the Union trotps and that, to effect this
end the commanders of armies be required to
issue proclamations similar in their character
to that issued by General Dix to the people Of
| Accomac and Northampton Counties, in Vir'
| ginis.
This proclamation has already been pub
| lisbed in the Times. It assures the citizens of
those couoties not in arms the protection of the
| General Government in their peaceful avoca-
! tions; it assures them that their property of
| every kind shall be reIigiousIy respected; that
! not the smallest article of any kind shall be
taken without the consent of the owner, and
rot then till full compensation has been paid;
and that no slaves will be allowed to come
within the lines of the Union camps. The
officers in charge of this expedition have faith
fully observed this proclamation. Not the
smallest article of property has been taken or
destroyed, and not a single slave has been al
lowed to come within the camps. The result
| has been that the entire population of those
! two counties have been won over to the Union
cause. These Populations Of Southern Union
men will assure the President that similar
course will produce similar effects, though on
much larger scale, in all the Southern States
They will also assure him that the adoption Of
any other line of policy, or even the continu-
ance of that course hitherto adopted in many
localities, will ALLEVIATE all the Union men in the
| South from their devotion to the Union, and
! will unite them, as mass of granite, Ito use
| the ex preston of one of them,) in the defense
of that institution without which they can not
! exist.
On the other hand, the President is besiegsd
by those clsmorous Aboliionist members of
Congress of whom 1 spoke in a recent letter,
who demand that he shall "come ont boldly"
as they express it, and stand squarely on the
Chicago platform, which he declared in his iu-
augural should be law unto him, and which re-
quires him 10 satisfy the Republican party by
taking advantage of this war to place slavery
in course of ultimate extinction. It will be
for the President to decide between these two
different lines Of conduct. There is good rea-
son to believe that he will prove no exception
to that general rule which causes the most rad
ical men, when elevated to power, to become
conservative. There is reason to hope that he
will be unmoved by the clamor Of the Aboli-
tionists, and will listen to the voice of the
UNION mtu VI ING OOuNug nHlCuJ III bulb
stance, is certainly the voice Of reason.
The readers of the Times are, DO doubt,
anxious 10 have some expapatio of the nu-
merous and serious skirmishes across the river
near Washington, which, commencing on the
day of the great review of the 20, 600 troops,
have been KEEP. up at intervals of day or two
ever since. This 1 now proceed to give.
The Confederates were perfectly we'll appfised
that this great review was going to take place
| They even knew the number of troops that
would be on the ground, and that they had
| been ordered to take forty rounds Of ball car .
| fridge to each mau. They supposed that the
review was but the immediate prelude to gen.
eral engagement, to be brought on by an at
tack on their lines by General Mcclellan.
Their troops, therefore, were not only put in
readiness along their whole line, but reinforce
ments were Immediately sent for to Richmond.
These reinforcements have been coming in
ever since, and there is little doubt that Beau
regards force is nov much stronger than ever
before. There is good reason to believe that
it is l75 900 strong; and some prisoners, very
Intelligent men, taken within few days, aver
that the whole Confederate force, from Lees
burg to Fredericksburg, including the regiment
advanced to Winchester and Jamesburg, i
200, 900 strong. This is not at all improbable
Ever since the great review Bsauregard ha
been pushing up detachments toward variou
!, points on the line Of General McClellan's army
and a number of reconnoissancss and foraginI
; expeditions have also been made upon our side
, The result has been these skirmishes, whic
| have been the consequences of the collision o
2 these advanced parties. No decisive adVant
l age has been gained by them, on either side
: Beaureeard knew already the exact locality
: each division of our army; and Mcclellan ha
z learned that the Confederates have moved u
e closer to him on several points. All of thes
: skirmishss have resulted disastrously to us,
q far as loss of men is concerned. A great man
o have been killed, wounded and taken prison
ers but il is impossible to tell how many. 1
g one of the earliest of these skirmishes wa
{ assured that we had net lost any in killed, ha
: only had two wounded, and three taken pris
oneTs. Two days afterward 1 ascsrtained thG
four men had been killed and fourteen badI
wounded. kept memorandum Of the occu
e renee, and few days ago 1 succeeded in ge
q ting late Richmond paper, in which were Il
e names, residence and regiment Of thirty-tV
,s prisoners taken by the Confsderates in tn
e same skirmish. So much for the accuracy
W the information which is sometimes furnisht
2, to newspaper correspondents here on the spo
+. The experience of every succeeding day col
10 Vinces me that the theory in one Of my rece
,, letters, that there will be no general engag
q msnt here soon, is correct. 1t seems tn
!. neither Mcclellan nor Beauregard is willing
o give up the decided advantage which both no
J, enjoy Of acting on the defensive. Both armi
}, will probably 60 into winter quarters on Il
| oponnd thav moo oaeunv This hainO don