JOHN WILDER, Esq., a member of
Cambridge Common Council, has been at
Fortress Monroe for the past year, and is now
at home on a short visit to recover his health.
He has kindly furnished us several inter-
esting particulars which we subjoin. Mr. W.
saw the letter written by a Virginia wo-
to an escaped slave at Fortress Monroe, in
she implores him to send some money for the
support of her family. The answer of the
black man was to the effect that he had paid
her two hundred dollars per year, besides sup-
porting himself, for fifteen years, and no me-
generosity was to be expected from him.

CONTRABANDS.—There are at Fortress
Monroe and vicinity several thousand negroes,
all fugitives from slavery, now under the pro-
tection of the government. Not one of these
negroes, as is generally and erroneously sup-
posed, is supported by or is a tax upon the
government, save only in some cases to sup-
port them with shelter. Several large gangs
men are constantly employed by the govern-
ment in all sorts of labor and receive (theo-
retically, at least) wages, but in too many
cases the wages remain unpaid and the ne-
groes having few friends in office are obliged
to submit to much injustice and oppression.
Regular soldiers' rations are given to laborers
but none to those not in government employ-
ment, and nothing for their families, and as in
many cases sums long since earned and justly
due remain unpaid, there is reason to fear that
suffering may be the result during the coming
winter. Most of those unemployed by gov-
ernment support themselves by fishing and
oystering, &c., and in many cases have little
plots of ground under cultivation. Seed h
been generously sent from the North. Too
many of these self-supporting contrabands
were robbed of the fruits of the season's farm-
ing by the soldiers of McClellan army return-
ing from Harrison's Landing. It is a comment
on the assertions of those who say the darkies
can't support themselves, that at this time
thousands of dollars are due them from the gov-
ernment which they will probably never re-
ceive. Many of them are very ignorant and

In that notwithstanding he knew that his great away scheme would be so wrong, he would thereby? When his own deathbed was thereby abed throughout all England, it was right that his truths, so plainly spoken, should have had a few more months to bear, and that his energy and calibre the sentiment of towards Union would have been exactly the same. But complexity. Comparing Thurlow Weed, who was here lauded, and judge for your own whose course was wisest, and American knows that Mr. Thurlow Weed didn't go to Earl Russell (as I know from a high authority that Thurlow Weed did), I think, in "Now don't be so quick upon us!" expect Mr. Weed out here shortly; in my opinion, the less we say to the waiter, please bring me that; if you do, you will get nothing under an hour; but if you go in and say to him that some roast beef, or whatever you want, a show him your fist, in five minutes your want will all be supplied. That is the case in the country, from waiter to Prime Minister.

I recently made a visit to the Tower with some Massachusetts friends, and also showed them in the "Tunnel." They were high in the Atlantic, I think, to see the Crown of the Traitor's Gate. The Blood Tower, the Tower in which the two you Prince was killed, the Dungeon in which he wrote a portion of his history of his voya to South America. We all went into it, but were glad to end our way out, it being so dangerous. We saw in the Armory the armory of the kings of England, some of which were with gold. We saw it where Alexander was beheaded, and to the executioner's axe, as well as every other of interest, all of which has been too often attributed to juries. Some portions of the Tower were erected in days of William the Conqueror. Think of being eight centuries old! Some portions of it are fast crumbling away, but the patch

SOLDIERS AND HOSPITALS.—There are thirty or forty hospital buildings at Fortress Monroe, and Mr. Wilder says: "At the time of my leaving there were about one hundred hospital tents at Camp Hamilton, near Fort M.; but the location is rather unfavorable, being low, and the number of patients does not and probably will not increase, unless we have a new peninsular campaign. I have assisted quite a number of soldiers from Cambridge, all who applied for it having in ruins, from the City Government. There were half a dozen from Cambridge still in hospital when I left, and it was proposed to remove all the sick to another and more favorable locality. I have spent some time and pains in looking up sick men, for their friends who wrote to me, and in sending on the remains of deceased soldiers.

"The country round the Fortress, though naturally rich, is utterly eaten up and devastated. For miles around houses are in ruins, fences gone, live stock destroyed, and desolation reigns. Most all the able-bodied men are in the rebel armies. They endure toils and privations and sacrifices most unflinchingly, fully believe they are right, and are determined to persevere; and they show many of the best qualities of the American race—rebels though they are. If we beat them we must strike heavy blows. That section of the country was the garden of Virginia, to many old and opulent families resided there and in the vicinity. I have frequently dined in the manions of Ex-President Tyler, and much of his splendid furniture is still preserved and in use."

among certain rich secessionists, of which fact they are notified through an advertisement in the *Delta*, with a request to call at head-quarters and pay the several amounts assessed upon them. Each is assessed according to his ability. One of these advertisements requests George A. Toulant to call at head-quarters and pay $10,000; R. Jackson is taxed $5,000; Peter Wilmer $3,000.

It is well known that Gen. Butler recently issued an order requiring all persons in the city who have been citizens, to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. Those who refused or neglected were to be prohibited from transacting business. One Dr. W. Newton Mercer recently sent a note to Gen. Butler, in which the Dr. claims to be a neutral, and on that ground claims exemption from the operation of an order recently issued. Gen. Butler replies that there can be no such thing as neutrality by a citizen of the United States in this contest for the life of the government. No citizen can claim any other position than that of a friend or an enemy of the United States. Gen. Butler expresses the highest opinion of the Dr., but says these qualities only make this example all the more influentiaious, and more dangerous to the cause of the United States, as it has been known to thefrerebellion.

Since Gen. Butler has been in New Orleans the police has been perfect; life was never more safe, and this most difficult people have been completely controled. Even those who are under his rule begin to like it, and a suggestion that he might be called and super-

ill perhaps be sown there after all.

stated that Gen. Scott's health is fast failing
now. He is confined to his apartment entirely
less, and it is said his mind is breaking down
the weight of years and mental and bodily
de.

eley chuckles at the idea that he has put
low Weed out of the Republican party.

Andrew has been empowered to raise negro
ents in Massachusetts, the telegraph says.
ave enough able bodied negroes here for two
cents. "Now being on your bears." That
little man down in Rhode Island, Governor
ue, tried the negro recruiting business in his
ick, some time ago, but narry a-one has been
red in there.

all pox abounds in Washington, even in the
fessional boarding houses.

Philadelphia Press gives currency to a ru-
nat Gen. McClellan is to be court martIALled
strength of the demagogue Hitchcock's letter.
were was something of a noise at the Watervliet
N. Y., on Friday afternoon, six thousand
becoming simultaneously ignited, and caus-
terfic explosion. Fortunately no one was
d.

late Dr Beecher's estate in New Haven has
purchased by the Catholics, who will erect an
tional institution upon it.

rding to the report of the Adjutant General
ate of New York has 106,033 men in active
ry service.

eautiful house on the Fifth avenue, N.Y., all
ted, mirrored, pictured, furnished, grocered,
and supplied has been presented to Mrs Mc-
n by some of her husband's friends, the As-
Aspinwalls, &c., &c.

e wealthy citizens of Washington have sub-
d to build a new and handsome theatre there.

N. Y. Commercial announces that a court
al will soon be organized in New York for the
f a number of officers.

leck, Stanton, Holt and Hitchcock are made
 subjects of some very plain and unequivocal
 the Western papers apropos to the Porter
 Martial.

London Times, for a wonder, disapproves of
avis's message—calls it "ill timed," and as
urating a state of things which will startle
ity everywhere. Butler it has no sympathy
ut it will not be Butler that will suffer, but
nt men for Butler's crimes, etc.

 Hunter has notified the express companies
 I crinoline and wearers of it are henceforth
 band. Officers' wives will all be sent North.
 low Weed has "thrown up his hand"—left
 bany Journal, says he differs irreconcilably
 is party, and rather than maintain a contin-
 trife he withdraws, though still holding his
 convictions against abolitionism.

"old Winnebago," as Mr Boyer styles Cam-
n being dined and wined by the Radical mag-
n Washington. He has even the audacity to
speeches.

rding to the Washington Star. Gen. Hooker
talked out his plan. Then let him go.

We think it is Hobbes who asserts that the
natural state of mankind is war, and although
he is contradicted by Herder and others who as
stoutly maintain that originally and by virtue of
his organization man is peaceably disposed, yet
possibly the truth is to be found somewhere be-
tween them. Statistics in all countries where
records have been kept, indicate an excess in the
births of males over females. The proportion
in round numbers is stated by Buckle to be
"that for every twenty girls there are born
twenty-one boys." Now if we suppose the prob-
ability of life to be equal in the two sexes, Na-
ture would seem to have shown decided favor to
the fair, in materially diminishing their chances
in that modified and dubious state of happiness
called "single blessedness;" for if all were mar-
ried who could find mates, there would still be
for every twenty wedded and blissful couples,
one old bachelor who despite his very best ef-
forts would be left to darn his own stockings,
and to tie together with what ingenuity he might,
his buttonless shirts. Perhaps this is a neces-
sary allowance for the friction of the Social Ma-
chine. Estimating the population of the United
States at the outbreak of the rebellion at 31,000,-
000, we find that there are something like 750,-
000 poor tellows to support the maiden aunts
and others who have no nearer natural protect-
ors, to do the fighting, to be lost overboard, to be
run over—in fact to supply the leakage and
breakage of Society—a kind of human tare and
allowance necessary but melancholy enough.

It has perhaps been noticed by many, that
notwithstanding the absence of so great a num-
ber of young men in the army, it does not seem
to have diminished the number of marriages as
much as would be supposed. Says a recent em-
ineut but perhaps ungallant English writer, "It
is now known that marriages bear a fixed and
definite relation to the price of corn, and in Eng-
land the experience of a century has proved that
instead of having any connection with personal
feelings, they are simply regulated by the aver-
age earnings of the great mass of the people; so
that this immense social and religious institution
is not only swayed, but completely controlled by
the price of food and the rate of wages." It is
however undoubtedly true that the market mat-
rinomial has been somewhat affected by this
cause, and our disinterested advice to those
young men who remain at home is to make the
most of your opportunities. Now is your chance
and you may never have another. For you the
old miracle seems to have been re-enacted—the
waters are troubled and your time has come to
to step in. Ho all ye bashful and diffident young
men, ye cripples physically and morally, pick
and choose. Soon you may hear the advancing
tread of your rivals in the field hastening home
to the rewards and repose they have earned, and
with the Troubadours of old

"Singing from Palestine
Hither I come,
Lady love, lady love,
Welcome me home."

WINTER PLEASURES—How suggestive—not of

State which are already in our possession? and, what is more, would the North be willing to give up Washington to the tender mercies of Jefferson Davis & Co.? Would not all negotiations fail at this very point? Virginia, North Carolinian and Mississippi are partly ours, and shall we surrender them and throw away all that has been done to restore what is the rightful inheritance of the nation. Would not the whole action be changed from a contest upon principle to a contest upon a dividing line, and where would the dividing line be run. The South have no military hold in any of the free States, although they made the attempt to invade Pennsylvania and Ohio, and they were driven back with heavy loss. Would the South be content with the Gulf States, would they surrender the other slave States for the sake of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi? As for Texas they cannot hold it, nor Louisiana. Would the West consent to give up the free navigation of the Mississippi River from its source to its mouth, and was not Louisiana purchased from France by Jefferson at an expense to the nation of fifteen millions of dollars, and is not that State the property of the whole country, and shall we consent to have it stolen from us by a faction of ambitious plunderers?

We mention these matters in this connection to show the difficulty in the way of peace, as proposed by those who are friendly inclined towards the South, and believe, or process to believe, that it is far better to give up the contest, than to longer engage in an attempt to bring back into the Union the States and the peeple which have raised the standard of rebellion against the Government. We apprehend that if the advice of the peace men were followed, there would be no peace either the reason that the South would be as extraneous in their demands if the offer of peace was made, as they have been in the past in regard to their peculiar institution. How would Virginia stand if the dividing party were carried out? Would the Rappahannock be the dividing line East and West? Would the North surrender the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay? Would they give up Fortress Monroe with Norfolk and Portsmouth? How is the arrangement to be brought about? Suppose foreign Governments were induced to act as umpires in this matter, what would they say? Would they contend that the South has any one State that could be sure to be entirely within the control of the Southern Confederacy? Would the people in Western Virginia be content to go back again and re-unite their fortunes with their enemy? Would not a border warfare follow of a severe and acrimonious character wherever the dividing line might be? Would it not give to the South a navy, which they have not now, to plunder our commerce in any future contest, which would surely grow out of this contest.

JOHN WILDER, Esq., a member of Cambridge Common Council, has been at Fortress Monroe for the past year, and is now at home on a short visit to recover his health. He has kindly furnished us several interesting particulars which we subjoin. Mr. W. saw the letter written by a Virginia woman to an escaped slave at Fortress Monroe, in which she implores him to send some money for the support of her family. The answer of the black man was to the effect that he had paid her two hundred dollars per year, besides supporting himself, for fifteen years, and no more generosity was to be expected from him.

CONTRABANDS.—There are at Fortress Monroe and vicinity several thousand negroes, all fugitives from slavery, now under the protection of the government. Not one of these negroes, as is generally and erroneously supposed, is supported by or is a tax upon the government, save only in some cases to supply them with shelter. Several large gangs of men are constantly employed by the government in all sorts of labor and receive (theoretically, at least) wages, but in too many cases the wages remain unpaid and the negroes having few friends in office are obliged to submit to much injustice and oppression. Regular soldiers' rations are given to laborers but none to those not in government employment, and nothing for their families, and as in many cases sums long since earned and justly due remain unpaid, there is reason to fear that suffering may be the result during the coming winter. Most of those unemployed by government support themselves by fishing and oystering, &c., and in many cases have little plots of ground under cultivation. Seed has been generously sent from the North. Too many of these self-supporting contrabands were robbed of the fruits of the season's farming by the soldiers of McClellan army returning from Harrison's Landing. It is a comment on the assertions of those who say the darkies can't support themselves, that at this time thousands of dollars are due them from the government which they will probably never receive. Many of them are very ignorant and degraded, though the men seem all to have a desire to read, and many have made considerable progress in the elements of learning. Missionaries and teachers are there, and do much to instruct them and better their condition. They are all under the protection and guidance of a Superintendent appointed by government, who also has a general oversight of the missionaries, &c. No fears need be entertained of their flooding the North, for they have no such wish or idea, and would return to the places from which they escaped, if reasonably secure of decent treatment. Their local attachments, like those of most communities, are very strong.

tively engaged during the day, and before morning the boats were reached, bringing off the captured piece of artillery. The retreat was managed with skill, none of the officers and but very few of the wounded men were left. Though the roads were almost impossible, and three cannon had to be dragged the whole way by hand. The loss in killed, wounded and missing will, perhaps, reach one hundred, possibly over. Rebel salt works were destroyed, also bridges, an iron toudry, in which shot and shell were cast, &c. Twenty two men of the 99th U. S. colored infantry are said to be captured, and six or seven officers killed and wounded. The 2d U. S. colored infantry, which bore principally the brunt of this desperate fight in the wilderness of Florida, has long been known for the excellence of its discipline and soldierly bearing. Few of its men are missing, except the killed and wounded, which number about fifty. We regret to say that the loss among officers is very heavy in proportion to the men. Major Lincoln was struck by a shell about noon of the 8th and injured to the 9th, when he expired. Capt. E. B. Tracy is badly wounded in the thigh. He may perhaps recover. Lieut. Murphy is dead—shot in the thigh and bled to death. Lieut. Carlton Seymour, formerly of Hartford, Conn., is shot in the lungs—will probably recover. Lieut. Woodward of Philadelphia loses an eye. Col. Townsend, wounded in the arm, never left the field, and is now doing well. Lieutenants Brown, Killeen and Thomas were hit, but escaped material injury. Gen. Newton was perfectly cool and calm and gave his orders with skill and foresight. Lieut. Carrington, of the General's staff, was shot and killed almost instantly as he was carrying orders to a distant part of the line. He was a recent graduate of Yale College and valedictory of his class. The names of the officers of the 99th colored who were killed or wounded we have not learned, except that of Lieut. Landfield, the only one killed. Maj. Weeks' command did not participate in the general engagement, being left at Newport, and did not suffer much loss. Major Lincoln was a resident of Boston and leaves a family there. He was a young man of very marked excellence of character. He was formerly in the employment of Haughton. Sawyer & Co., and worked his way up from the ranks by untiring energy, intelligence and force of character. He excelled as a disciplinarian, was thoroughly pure in his moral character, of great ambition, and of courage unsurpassed. He is worthy to stand among the very few of New England's choicest sons who from principle have laid down their lives in battle. He had, it might almost be said, no faults, and surely he had no enemies but his country's. His men loved him with unsurpassed devotion, and his kindly, unselfish and Christian character endeared him to all. His life is indeed a costly sacrifice.

—Isaac