efforts to raise the means to defend themselves from their invaders. The advantages to England and to the Confederacy of the Southern States, therefore, would have been manifold by the non-recognition of the Southern States as belligerents; although they had a claim not only for belligerent rights, but for recognition as sovereign states, entitled to be free and independent nations. It would have been far better for the South to have been treated as pirates, than to have been subject to the rigours of an illegal blockade. This has been a terrific instrument in the hands of the North with which to punish the South; and, indirectly, England. Next to the establishment of the blockade, naval attacks were planned on the James river, at Newbern, Charleston, Wilmington, Mobile, Savannah, New Orleans, Galveston and other places.

New Orleans was captured at an early period of the war by Admiral Farragut, and placed under the governorship of General Butler, whom Professor Goldwin Smith calls "his model of a revolutionary chief," and afterwards of General Banks-men who, like many others to whom we have referred, will occupy an odious page in the melancholy annals of the war for walking straight on in their wild way unrestrained in their passions for revenge or plunder. Already Butler has been dismissed, not for insulting "ladies as women of the town" not for acquiring sudden wealth in connexion with his extraordinary "trade permits," or "tickets of leave,"

not for his gigantic blunder in making the "Dutch Gap Canal," but for his supposed cowardice in not assaulting Fort Fisher.

To all appearance General Banks has come to grief, also, not for issuing an address which commences, "in order to prepare the negroes for liberty," and continues, "the negro is not allowed to make a contract," whilst under his "beautiful" organization of labour, according to Col. Mackay's report, "whipping was undoubtedly practised." No, his grief arises in consequence of an expedition to the Red River which General Banks fitted out, not for military objects and purposes, but according to the testimony of Admiral Porter before a Committee at Washington "to steal cotton." The result was, that the Confederates inflicted the severest punishment, and all but annihilated them, whilst Secretary Chase, the new Federal judge, has decided that the cotton stolen by them cannot be awarded as "prize money." Newbern, and more recently Wilmington, were captured by the Federal marines. The latter was the principal port for blockade running; and consequently was of the most importance to the South in their present fearful struggle for independence. Charleston has been made immortal in history by its long and stubborn resistance to the iron bail of the Federals; and, but for Sherman's approach from the interior, would still have presented an effectual resistance to the Federal navy. On being evacuated immense property was destroyed by the Confederates.

Savannah fell from the same cause as Charleston. Mobile has been captured by a combined force on sea and land.

These crushing calamities which have befallen the South have made the Northern people as "merry as a marriage bell," and inspired them with the hope that the end of the war is near. Bright visions, therefore, are floating before the eyes of the Federals, some of which are being transcribed to paper as a reality. Take the following as a speci

men :

IMPROVEMENT IN THE NORTH.

The Daily News' New York correspondent, writing on March 16th, says:—Owing to the general impression that the end is very near, there is now little or no difficulty in raising as many men as may be needed without resorting to compulsory measures; and the subscriptions to the seven thirty loan continue to come in on such an enormous scale, coupled with the accession of Mr. M'Culloch to the Treasury department, that the financial situation seems to have moderated. Which ever way one looks, in short, one sees nothing but unbounded hope and confidence, and I may add, all the ordinary indications of unbounded prosperity. Trade in the great towns is suffering from the suspense caused by the military operations, but the work of production goes on with a vigour and rapidity that no famili

arity with it seems to render less impressive. One hears of nothing but the enormous yield of petroleum wells, of gold and copper, and coal mines, of the teeming harvests, which horses and machinery only are able to extract from the virgin soil of the West, of railroads breaking down under the weight of their goods traffic, of the increase of comfort, and even of luxury amongst all classes and conditions of the people. The scum of the European immigration is to be found, no doubt, miserable as ever, in the alleys and lanes of New York and Boston, but nowhere else do I hear of or see signs of poverty. Everybody I know anything about is, to all appearance, better off than he was three or four years ago. The hotels are crowded, the railways are crowded; the great newspaper proprietors are making large fortunes, though the high price of paper has ruined the smaller ones; the schools are crowded, and books never seemed to sell better, though fewer of course, are imported from Europe. Ticknor and Field, of Boston, have just sold 75,000 copies of "Enoch Arden!" You may shake your head over all this, and say that "there will be a grand crash" yet; you will get nobody to believe you or heed you. Every man you meet will tell you, with glowing eyes, that they will pay this debt with an ease that will astonish the world, and resume specie payments with a rapidity that every political economist in Europe will declare impossible. The anti-slavery men are preparing to enfranchise the negro, simply imposing a

light educational test, with a confidence in the elevating and enlightening power of political privileges, which to most European statesmen must seem appalling.

"All men up," says a friend writing to me a few days ago, a man of fortune and culture, "is our motto."

What a specious plea by which to obtain men, and means, to carry on the present diabolical war in America! The great big plaster generally used to cover up the atrocities and infamy of the war has been the "plaster of freedom," but now that it is failing them, prosperity with its luscious fruits and golden baits is hung before the world to tempt men to enlist, and to invest in Federal "securities."

THE WESTERN, OR MILITARY DIVISION OF THE
MISSISSIPPI,

THIS has been a most successful department of the Federals. At first Gen. Buell made slow progress with his army. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher said, that "he crawled like a turtle, when he ought to have flown like an eagle." Under Gen. Grant it achieved successes which obtained the thanks of the President, Congress, and the Northern people, but the greatest victories were reserved for it under Gen. Sherman. On assuming the command of the Western Federal army, he undertook an expedition into Georgia. The place of his destination was Atlanta, the "Gate City," so called,