under the penalty of having to refund a depressing_influence of the result of the similar amount to the United States.

battle of Fredericksburg, became evident in the popular agitation that succeeded the event throughout the northern states. Among both military and civil populations, the overthrow of the army of the Potomac was productive of most undisguised discontent; and to allay this in some degree, and avert from the Lincoln cabinet a wrath no longer silent, the president felt it prudent

In the beginning of October several conflicts occurred at and near Corinth, Mississippi, which eventually resulted in favour of the federal commanders; but, on the other hand, the successful raids of the confederate cavalry, in Maryland and Pennsylvania, more than balanced the advantage so obtained. On the last day of the month, General M'Clellan's wing of the army of to issue the following notification to the the Potomac commenced crossing into Vir-army:ginia, opposite Berlin.

On the 4th of November, General M'Clellan was relieved from the command

of the army of the Potomac, and Majorgeneral A. F. Burnside was ordered to

succeed him. On the 12th of the same month, Major-general Joseph Hooker succeeded General Porter in the command of the 5th army corps of the army of the Potomac.

"Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 22nd.

"To the Army of the Potomac.

preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. "I have just received your commanding general's Although you were not successful, the attempt was

66

small,

not an error, nor the failure other than an accident. The courage with which you, in an open field, maintained the contest against an intrenched foe, and the consummate skill and success with which you crossed and recrossed the river in the face of the enemy, show that you possess all the qualities On the 11th of December, the city of of a great army, which will yet give victory to the Fredericksburg, Virginia, was bombarded cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and by the federal troops, who, under cover of sympathising with the severely wounded, I congrathe fire, threw pontoons over the Rappa-tulate you that the number of both is comparatively hannock, and crossed that river. One hundred and forty-three guns were then brought "I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks to bear on the town, and utterly destroyed of the nation. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." it. On the following day, three divisions of the army, under Generals Sumner, Hooker, General Burnside, on his part, hastened, and Franklin, attacked the confederate by a letter to the general-in-chief, Halleck, lines, and were repulsed with immense to exonerate the executive government loss. General Burnside, who commanded from all responsibility as regarded his in chief, ordered several assaults to be defeat. made, but without success; and the close of the day found both armies in their positions of the morning, with a vast amount of dead and wounded on either side. The loss of the federals in this affair, was reported, by General Burnside, to be-1,512 killed, 6,000 wounded, and 100 prisoners. "I do not feel that I have erred in too much The gross loss on the confederate side, harshness, for that harshness has been exhibited to was estimated at something less than disloyal enemies of my country, and not to loyal 1,805. So decisive was the repulse of the friends. To be sure, I might have regaled you federals, that, during the night of the with the amenities of British civilisation, and yet 15th, and morning of the 16th, the whole been within the supposed rules of civilised warfare. of the army of the Potomac was with- You might have been smoked to death in caverns, as were the covenanters of Scotland, by the comdrawn, by General Burnside, from before mand of a general of the royal house of England; Fredericksburg; and, crossing the Rappa- or roasted like the inhabitants of Algeria, during hannock, took a position on the north side the French campaign: your wives and daughters of the river. The retreat was effected with might have been given over to the ravisher, as were the unfortunate dames of Spain in the Peninso much secrecy, that the confederate force sular war; or you might have been scalped and was not aware of Burnside's departure till tomahawked, as our mothers were at Wyoming, by after the pontoon bridge had been removed. the savage allies of Great Britain, in our own revoBy this signal defeat, the almost uni-lution; your property could have been turned over to indiscriminate loot,' like the palace of the versal faith in the invincibility of the emperor of China; works of art which adorned

General Butler was superseded in the command of New Orleans, on the 16th of the month, by General Banks. The valedictory address of General Butler to the inhabitants of New Orleans, ran as follows:

the paintings of the Vatican; your sons might have been blown from the mouths of cannon, like the sepoys at Delhi; and yet all this would have been within the rules of civilised warfare, as practised by the most polished and the most hypocritical nations of Europe."

On the 23rd of the month, a proclamation of the president of the southern confederacy, denounced General Butler for hanging a citizen of New Orleans, named W. B. Mumford, and ordered that the general and any of his officers who might be taken prisoners, should be hung in re

taliation.

by General Hooker, in whose military talent great confidence was reposed.

The emancipation decree of President Lincoln occasioned considerable distrust and apprehension, even among his warmest supporters; while, by those opposed to his policy, it was denounced as a firebrand that would only keep alive and augment the intensity of the hatred that existed between the peoples of the two great sections of the republic. The governor of Kentucky, in a message to the legislature of that state, recommended it to reject the proclamation, which, he declared, "would An unsuccessful attempt to obtain pos- inflict upon Kentucky a direct blow; fire session of Vicksburg was made on the 27th the south into a mass of inexhaustible of December, by an expedition commanded hate, and destroy all hope of restoring the by General Sherman, which had proceeded Union." The most alarming aspect of the about eighteen miles up the Yazoo river proclamation, was pointed out to be, the on the previous day, and there landed a usurpation of the powers of government by force, by which the advanced works of the president, under the specious plea of the confederates, about six miles in the military necessity; and the governor called rear of the city, were attacked. The garri- upon the legislature to record its protest son was driven from its first and second against the proclamation. lines of defence on the 27th and 28th of the month, and the federal troops advanced to within two miles and a-half of the city: but a confederate reinforcement having come up, the tide of battle turned against the assailants, who were compelled to retreat with considerable loss. In consequence of this failure, General Sherman was superseded in his command by General M'Clernand, and the expedition against Vicksburg was abandoned.

The battle of Murfreesboro' commenced on the last day of the year, and finished on the 4th of January, 1863, with a doubtful triumph for either party. The confederates certainly retired from the field in good order; but the federal general, Rozencrans, on the other hand, reported-" Our entire success on the 31st was prevented by the surprise of the right flank; but, after three days' hard fighting, we have beaten the enemy." The cost of the victory being, to the federal government, 1,500 killed, 6,000 wounded, and 4,000 prisoners.

The year 1862 had thus closed upon some eighteen months of a fierce and ruthless war, in which all the evil passions of human nature had full development in deeds of blood, without any appreciable advantage to either of the combatants.

On the 9th of January, 1863, General Burnside resigned the command of the

Early in the month, the town of Galveston, Texas, was taken possession of by a confederate force; and, about the same time, five steamers, protected by cotton bales, with troops on board, attacked the federal gun-boats, and captured the Harriet Lane, after her officers, and nearly all her crew, had been shot down. Two gunboats escaped; but the flag-ship of the federal flotilla, with Commander Renshaw on board, was blown up, with its commander and crew. The remaining portion of the fleet returned to New Orleans.

The ill-fated Monitor foundered at sea, on Tuesday, the 9th of January, and twentythree of her crew, enclosed as it were in an iron safe, from which there could be no escape, perished with her-so speedily did the prestige of this monster of the deep, rise, culminate, and decline.

Towards the end of the month, General M'Clernand's expedition landed on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi, five miles below the mouth of the Yazoo river, in view of Vicksburg; and two brigades of the force were immediately detailed for the works to enable the canal, commenced by General Williams in 1862, to change the course of the river, which was then at its height at Vicksburg; and it was expected the enterprise would be successful, at least to the extent of permitting the passage of gun-boats and transports to a point below

On the 9th of February, the entire federal fleet had been reported in front of Vicksburg, with all the mortar-boats in position for an attack; but, up to the 20th, no demonstration had been made.

At this time the confederate force massed as indefensible as they were cruel. Thus, in and about Charleston, was represented to in order to flood the country in the neighamount to about 30,000 men: from 15,000 bourhood of Vicksburg, the federals cut to 20,000 more were stationed on James the banks on the Mississippi side of the Island; two regiments of infantry, and two river, twelve miles below Helena, and on artillery companies, garrisoned the batteries the Louisiana side, opposite Lake Provion Sullivan's Island; Fort Sumter con- dence. The town of De Soto, opposite tained a force of about 700 men, and the Vicksburg, was thereby submerged, and fort on the middle ground was also well the damage occasioned was irreparable and manned; 1,000 men were stationed on useless. Morris Island; and the entire shore of Charleston harbour bristled with heavy ordnance. Besides these preparations for defence, two iron-clad batteries, constructed for the protection of the harbour, had been completed, and were afloat, ready for action. A naval engagement took place at the mouth of Charleston harbour on the 31st of January, which had the effect, for a time, of inspiring hopes that the blockade at that place had been opened. The details will best appear from the despatches; the first of which simply reported, that two iron-clad gun-boats, the Chicora and Palmetto State, with their tenders, had crossed the bar at 1 A.M., to attack the blockading fleet. The second despatch was as follows:

"Charleston, January 31st. "This morning, the gun-boats Palmetto State, Captain Rutledge, and Chicora, Captain Tucker, accompanied by three small steamers-all under the command of Commodore Ingraham-made an attack on the blockaders, and succeeded in sinking two, and crippling a third. The engagement commenced at 4 A. M., when the Palmetto State, with Commodore Ingraham on board, opened fire upon the federal gun-boat Mercedita, carrying eleven guns, and 158 men, which was soon sunk in five

The affair of Commodore Ingraham with the blockading squadron, at the mouth of Charleston harbour, gave occasion for some diplomatic correspondence between Mr. Mason, on behalf of the confederate states, and Earl Russell; the result of which merely established the assumption that, when the people of the south had, by their own exertions, valour, and sacrifices, achieved the independence of their country, Great Britain would recognise the fact; but, until then, would afford no countenance to the struggling people.

It will be recollected that, from the first, any idea of mediation between the belligerent states was repudiated by Earl Russell, on the part of the British government. That of France, undeterred by questions of "expediency," made a proposition to the United States' government, with a view to solve the difficulties, or, at least, fathoms of water. Her commander, Captain Stell- mitigate the sacrifices which the two belwagen, with a boat's crew, came on board and sur-ligerent sections were compelled to make. rendered. One shot pierced her boiler, going right But the friendly proposal was rejected; through. Captain Stellwagen and crew were and the committee upon foreign relations parolled by Commodore Ingrat am. Captain Tucker, of the Chicora, reports sinking another federal at Washington, in a report to the senate, gun-boat, and the disabling of a third, the steam- after adverting to the French offer of inship Quaker City. The latter was set on fire by tercession, resolved, "that any idea of methe Chicora, and hauled down her flag to surrender, diation or intervention is impracticable, but afterwards managed to escape, using only one wheel, being very seriously damaged. The number unreasonable, and inadmissible: also, that of the blockading fleet outside, at the time of the any offer of interference so far encourages attack, was thirteen, with two first-class frigates, rebellion, and tends to prolong the contest, the Susquehanna and the Canandiagua. The and that congress will therefore be obliged federal loss was very severe. It was a complete to regard any further attempt in the same success on our part, with not a man hurt. Our gun-boats were not even struck. All the block-direction as an unfriendly act." The resoaders have disappeared; there is not one to be seen lutions further expressed regret that the within five miles, with the strongest kind of glasses. Our boats are now returning to Charleston."

The spirit of wanton, irremediable mischief was still active among the belligerents; and the destruction that could not be effected by the acknowledged and legiti

foreign powers had not already informed the southern chiefs that the work in which they were engaged was hopeless, and that a new government, with slavery as its cornerstone, and with no other declared object of separate existence, was so far shocking to