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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."

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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,

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of the State, where were located its foundries, arsenals, and workshops, deemed secure by their distance, from the Northern base of operations, and the apparent impregnable obstacles intervening. His pathway, therefore, was through a country which was full of natural barriers, as well as fortified places. Discarding the old policy of sitting down before them and taking them by assault or tiring them out by siege, which has always been associated with a fearful loss of life, and made military movements slow, solemn, and difficult, Gen. Sherman adopted the process of flanking, which compelled the Confederates to abandon one fortified place after another in rapid succession, until he reached Atlanta, the goal of his aspirations, and contemplated operations when he set out on his march into Georgia.

In a

Congratulatory Order" to his soldiers, dated Atlanta, Sunday, Sep. 11, 1864, Gen. Sherman says:

"On the first day of May we were lying in garrison, seemingly quiet, from Knoxville to Huntsville, and our enemy lay behind his rocky-faced barrier at Dalton, proud, defiant, and exulting. He had had time since Christmas to recover from his discomfiture on the Mission Ridge, with his ranks filled, and a new commander-in-chief, second to none of the Confederacy in reputation for skill, sagacity, and extreme popularity.

"All at once our armies assumed life and action,

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