have shown no disposition to revolt.— The whole South is armed and vigi lant. A general insurrection is almost impossible. The negroes are ignorant, unarmed, incapable of combination, accustomed to obey and closely watch ed. The slightest manifestation of a disposition to rise would be punished with terrible severity. - Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation is far more dangerous, in this point of view, to the blacks, than to the whites. It is not likely to cause an insurrection, but it may ex cite the dread of one, and thus weaken the military power of the South.— lt is a military measure intended to produce that effect. It is a mil itary measure put off as long as possible in the hope that events might, render it unnecessary.— It became necessary to save us from invasion; from foreign intervention— perhaps from foreign war. Let it be granted, however, for the Sake of argument, that the dauger of an insurrection, excited by this act of the President, is serious—that it is oven unavoidable. It surely- cannot be pretended that Mr. Lincoln means or desires to cause such a result, when -he gives ample notice of the intended measure, and at the same time opens a path by which its dreaded consequen ces may be avoided. The shelling of a city is a terrible act of war. It ne cessarily involves the destruction of a vast amount of property and also of lives, which even war spares if it can. The practice, therefore, of civilized warfare. is, first to demand the surren der of the city, and if that be,refused, to give time for the removal of women and - children, and other non-combat ants, before the dread alternative is executed. Mr. Lincoln has given three months' notice of his purpose, during which the southern people can prepare themselves against a servile revolt. They have prevented one eo far, in the midst of a war, the object of which, the negroes believe, is to set them free. It is scarcely probable that Mr. Lincoln's paper proclamation will have such en effect on their minds that the authorities of the South, fore warned as they are, cannot prevent the horrors of an insurrection. If they continued, indeed, to send forward to the battle-fields of the'war their whole available white population, the negroes might become dangerous, should Mr. Lincoln on the first of Tanuary tell them they are free. But let Mr. Da vis detail as `a home rsuard some of the able generals, such as Lee, Joseph Johnson, Beausegari, Stonewall Jack son and others, and, say two hundred thousand of the brave troops that have given us so much trouble, and there could be no danger. Is it a crime to force him to do this? Or is it contra-' ry to the laws of wai'? Mr. Lincoln's proclamation has been likened to the barbarous practice of poisoning wells and springs. But suppose it became necessary in a campaign to prevent the occupation of a particular region which could not be defended, and the general in command gave explicit and ample notice to the enemy that the springs and wells were poisoned.- - Without admitting any analogy be tween the cases, would not such notice take away the barbarism of the act, so far as the enemy was concerned ? rfad Mr. Lincoln intended to cause a servile. insurrection, he would not have given three months' notice of his de sign. That the proclamation may, if it can be carried into effect, break up the fabric of southern society, destroy a large amount of slave property, de range the industry, and inflict heavy losses on the southern people, is no doubt true. But such injuries arc within the legitimate scope of war. The President has not only given ample notice of his purpose, but he has offered honorable terms, by which its dreadful effects may be avoided. He demands no mortifying submission, no payment of the heavy expense of the war, no security for the future; all ho asks that they shall send representa tives to Congress, whose votes may perhaps control him; that they shall resume their places in that govern ment by whose Constitution he him self is bound to put down insurrection ; Under which their slaves have risen from two hundred to one thousand dollars each in value; under which they enjoyed for nearly a century, peace and security, and made such progress as Africa permitted them to make. Not very hard conditions, one would think, to be offered to men who are attempting to overthrow a gov ernment which conferred on them so many benefits, and who have inflicted on its people so many injuries, DIRECTORY OF llospirALs.—The San itary Commission have established an office of information in regard to pa tients in the hospitals of the District of Columbia, and of Frederick City, Maryland. , By a reference to books, which are corrected daily, an answer can, under ordinary circumstances, be given by return mail, to the following questions: let. Is [giving name and regiment] at present in the hospitals of tho District or of Frederick city ? 2d. If so, what is his proper address? ad. What is the name of the sur geon or chaplain of the hospital ? 4th. If not in the hospital at present, has be recently been in hospital ? sth. If so, did he die in hospital, and at what date ? Lb. If recently discharged from hos pital, was he discharged from service ? 7th. If not, what were his orders on leaving ? The Commission is prepared also to furnish more specific information as to the condition of any patient in the District hospitals, within twenty-four hours after a request to do so, from an officer of any of its corresponding soci eties. The office of the Directory will be open daily from S o'clock A. M. to 8 o'clock P. M., and accessible in urgent cases at any hour of the night. The number of patients in these hos pitals is about 25,000. If found to be practicable, the duty here undertaken locally by the Commission will be ex tended to include all the general hos pitals in the country. FRED. LAW OLMSTED, General Secretary ADAMS 110 USE, 244 F STREET, t Washington, D. a, N0v.19. j Coming—Chrisiinas. Ely Cobt. HUNTINGDON, PA Wednesday morning, Dec. 10, 1862. W. Lewis, Editor and Proprietor ( Our Flag Forever "I know aJ no mode in which a loyal citi zen may so well demonstrate his devotion to his country as by sustaining the Rog, the Constitution and the Union, under all dream. stances, and UNDER. EVERY ADMINI:,TRATION, REGARDLEIS OF PARTY POLITICS, .AGAINST ALL ASSAILANTS, AT MI: k. AND AIIROA D."-STEPLIEN A. DOUGLAS. TILE NEWS. The tiro at Lock Haven on Satur day originated in a carpenter shop in the rear of Scott's Hall. The entire business part of the town was destroy ed. The loss i‘.3 estimated at $lOO,- 000. WEicuEsT.En was occupied by the Federals under General Geary with 3,300 infantry and 12 pieces of artille ry and 30 cavalry on 'Wednesday, the 3d. Our loss was one slightly wound ed. Gar,NADA, Miss., was taken by the Fedei.als under General Hovey, num bering 20,000, on Monday, the Ist De cember. The rebels - fled after burn ing some 15 or 20 locomotives and about 100 ears. TUE rebels under Generals Hind man and Marmaduke, 25,000 strong:, attempted to force Gen. Blunt's posi tion at Cane Hill on Saturday last, but were driven lracic. Interesting to Railroad Passengers and Conductors, We learn that a case was tried be fore Judge Taylor in Cambria county last week, the decision of which is of interest to the traveling public, and to Railroad Conductors. A passenger who wished to come from Johnstown to Iluntingdon, asked for a ticket at the office at Johnstown, and offered a five dollar note in pay ment. The agent could not make him the change, and consequently begot on the train without a ticket. Ile offered the same note to the Conductor (Green) who took it to examine it, saying if it was right ho would give hini the change. After examining it, Green declined to receive the note, not being certain that it was - good, atittP - niroroa it back to the passenger. Some differ ence arose between them as to wheth er it was the same note the passenger had given him that he offered to re turn, and the pas , ,enger refused to re ceive it, and said lie had no other mon ey to pay with. It was established on the trial that the note the Conductor offered to give him back, was the same he had received from him, and more over, that the Conductor was mistaken about its being a bad note, that it was a genuine note on the Delaware City Bank. Mr. Green then told the passenger that unless he could pay with other money he would have to put him off the train at the next station. He manifested some unwillingness to go, and there was some difference among the witnesses as to whether Green took hold of him by the collar to put him out, or whether he had gone out with out Green touching him. He was re quired to leave the cars, and was left off at Wilmore Station. He then in dicted the Conductor for assault and battery. The Judge hold, that if Conductors require it of the passenger, he, the pas senger is bound to make the change; that the Conductor is not bound to take the fare out of a note larger in amount, and furnish change to a pas senger ; that what occurred in this case in reference to the five dollar note, was not a payment of the fare; and that if the passenger did not produce a ticket, or pay his fare in the cars, the Conductor had a right to eject him from the cars, using no more force in doing so than necessary. The Jury acquitted the Conductor. MuM's THE WORD.—A special caucus of the 3/onitor faction was Leld at Wit- Son & Petrikin's office some two weeks since, and it was determined that the Monitor must keep mum on the usurp ation the County Committee was guil ty of in the appointment of the two State Delegates. Since then the Mon itor has kept mum. Who says Owen is his own master. He must work as his masters direct, and they discOvered that the party must be kept as ignor ant as possible of the outrage commit ted by the Committee. The faction know they can't defend the action of the Committee, so they have deter mined to try to "hush up" the question, if possible, by keeping their readers ig norant of the dissatisfaction existing in the Democratic party. The.sneaking game won't work—Democrats know theirrights and dare maintain them— the decree of the Monitor faction to the contrary notwithstanding. Its. English and German Almanacs for 1863, are for sale at Lewis' Book Store [➢or the 0101,.] Governor and Supreme Judge. MR. LEWIS :-I. read the letter front MeAlevy's Port, signed " Marcus," in your last paper, about the election of delegates to the next Democratic State Convention, and endorse its senti ments. I have not been much of a politician, but lam a Democrat, and have always understood the meaning of that word to be that the people are to govern. The only way the people can practically govern is to take part in the preliminary steps to make nom inations. If the people don't take part, then they are not governing themselves: They are letting some body else govern them. " Marcus' " letter refers only to the next Govern or. Now, I want to call the attention of the Democrats of this county to the I fact that the next State Convention will have more than a Governor to nominate, and the people will have I more than one State officer to elect I next fall. Judge Lowrey was here last summer, and Ito told me his term as Judge of the Supreme Court would expire next fall, and that his succes sor would be elected at the election in 'lBO3. Then the Convention will nonli nate candidates for bath Govern.). anrt Supreme Judge, the two highest offices in the State. The people ought to have a voice in who they ate to be. Even if a ConVention should choose the same two men that tho County Committee appointed, they may have some in ' struetions to give them about their choice. No County Committee ever elected delegates before to nominate Governor or Supreme Judge, and the Committee had no authority to do it. Where is their authority would like somebody to point out where the people ever gave them. the authority. I Thev never did : no resolution ever, of any Conventio», authorized them to do it, and it would have been wrong if they had. The County Committee is not made to elect delegates. If it can elect delegates, then the State Convention might as Well save nil the Democrats in the State the trouble of meeting, and just make the nomina tions at once. And if a County Com mittee can take this power out of the hands of the people of a county, why the State Convention has just as good a right to take it away from the peo ple of the State. Suppose they should try it; why even if I am old enough to ho fin• out of the muster-roll, I would be one to join an insweetion against the tyrants, and go down to *Harris burg to help disperse the concern.— Well, now, I ask my follo:v-citizens whether our County Committee ha , nit tried to do the very same thing that the State Committee , would be cloin:r it' thov should nominate the can- fOr Governor and Supreme Judge without a Convention. II eve ry county in the State would do the same thing, the people, would not be heard at all, and it is hard to tell what kind of duff we might have put o❑ the ticket. low, Mr. Lewis. I may not agree with you in all you have done and said, but in this thing. you are right. Whatever may be said about popular sovereignty in the far off Territories, the Democrats of this county are de termined that they will have it at home, here. They wi'l be the sover eigns themselves, and have no sover eign committee to speak for them and rule them. We are in eat-nest about it in this place. I have talked to my neighbors about it, and whether the County Committee calls it or not, there will be a Convention called be fore the State Convention meets, and we will elect delegates with our eyes open as to what is before us. We have no idea of having the highest execu tive and judicial ollieet.s in the State nominated by men in whose selection we had no voice, and we don't intend to let it be done if the voice of the peo ple can prevent it. We'll try. any how, and it' the usurpation of powers has got to be dangerous in these days , we'll begin to look after our safety by stopping it at home. We can talk, then, with a little grace about the usurpations of other parties. F.un. PLAY Alexandria, Dec. 6, 1862. COMPANY F WOWS in fin• another " spat•" from the able pen of Caldwell's dog Owen. lie must have a peculiar Friendship for the " boys " composing that company. In his last issue he says : "Lewis guarded Chambersburg, but did not go with his regiment to Mary land. J3ravc boyS!" Of course Owen means the company when he &peaks of us remaining as guard in Chambe•sburg. " Brave boyS !" We were only a " boy"—the company were " boys." Owen will have to be made to smell somebody's fingers before he can be expected to treat Company F with proper respect. OWEN says a man can not be a De mocrat unless lie submits to the dicta tion of the Monitor clique, Caldwell & Co. All Democrats-who will not be bound by the action of the County Committee in the appointment of State Delegates, are to be denounced by Caldwell & Co. as traitors to the Dem ocratic party. Pitch in ! The Demo cracy are not yet swallowed up by such leaders as Caldwell, Owen & Co. Elizabeth .Ilawn, daughter' of Mr. Lewis Hawn, was drowned on Friday last, by the canal at the lock near which she The Fitz John Porter Court Martial. The court martial engaged in the trial of General Fitz John Porter met in Washington on the 3d, when char ges and specifications were exhibited against him by‘Brig. Veneral Roberts, Inspector General of General Pope's army. They were read in connection with the violation of the ninth article of war. He is charged with disobey ing several important orders of hissu perior in front of the' enemy, failing to push forward his forces into action on the enemy's flank and rear; permitting one of the brigades of his command to march to Cenlreville, out of the way of the field of battle, and there to re main daring the entire day of the 30th of August; this at or near Centreville station on the 29th and 30th of Aug ust last, &c. He is also charged with a violation of the 52d article of in refusing to attack the enemy while within sight of the field and in full hearing of the artillery of the battle, then and there shamefully disobeying, and retreating from the advancing for ces of the enemy, without any attempt to engage them, or aid the troops who were already fighting greatly superior numbers,and were relying on the flank attack he was ordered to make to se cure a decided victory, &e. To these charges General Porter pleaded "not guilty " The court martial in the case or Major General Fitz John Porter was in session again on the 4th, Muj. Gent John Pope being the witness under examination. The substance of his testimony W:l4 that it was his firm con viction that if Major General Porter had obeyed his order promptly he could have entirely defeated, if nut captured Jack:3oll's army. IMPORTANT ro Vor.rxz • ceas.—lL has been decided by the authorities at Washington that if a soldier• i s dis charged before he has served two whole years, or to the cnd.of the war, if sooner ended, he fbrfeits his 8100 bounty. The back dues fin• wages, and fifty cents for each twenty miles travelled from the place of discharge to the place of' enrollment, ho is cra b -' tied to on the pay certificates from his nearest paymaster. If a soldier is killed, or dies of disea , ,e, before the cud of two years, or• the close of the war, he has, under the liberal coastruetion of the law, served. to the end of the war, so far as, heis or can be concern ed. Congress intended by the provi sions of the law that no one should have the bounty until the end of the war. The ,51.00 bounty, by this law, will be immediately paid, so soon as audited. • Under an order and rule of the War Department, there can be procured for the witi•e. or hol...iiert, imprisoned in the South, the monthly wages of the sol dier, to the date of allowance, except the last mouth's wages, which the gov ernment reserves. It'll° wife, the mi nor children, by their guardian, are entitled. It the soldier is'unmarried, his 'Milo \val. mother• is entitled. An important decision has been made by the Secretary of War and the Paymaster General in effect, that a soldier is entitled to pay from the day he enlists, and that he is not to wait until his company is full or the formal nosier of the regiment into Govern ment service. THE' MAMMOTH UNION PHO TOGRAPH CAR FOR SALE.—One of the largest and best Photographic Cars in the United States now station ed at Huntingdon, Huntingdon coun ty, Pa., for sale very low, as change of circumstances render it necessary fbr the present prop ietor Lo locate. It is fitted up in liandsome style, with eve ry convenience for Ambrotyping, Pho tographing, &c., full size visiting Card Photographing, with and 4-7 size cameras and every other necessity, in cluding au entire stock of Frames, Ca ses. &c. For full particulars, apply or C. S. ROSHON, Huntingdon, Pa. ILl(lmss, B.—lnstruction will be given to the purchaser, free of charge, if de sired, in all branches of the Art. IN TUE FIELD FOR TUE SPOILS —A small crowd of office seekers will be in Harrisburg at the meeting of the next Legislature. This county will be well represented. Patrick Leddy and Jun. Dougherty are candidates for Sergeant at-arms. R. Milton Speer, P. M. Ly tle and David Caldwell will be appli cants for Clerkships. There may be others, but we have not heard the names orally ethers. Improve Your AS'iyht and Preserve Your Eyes.—A. BIRNBAU.It, Practi cal and Manufacturing Optician, takes pleasure in informing the Ladies and Gentlemen of Huntingdon and vicini ty, that he has opened a Store one door west of Dr. Dorsey's, Atith a large and variety stock of Spectacles, com prising Convex and Concave Glasses, such as Flint, Crystal and Scotch Peb ble, and particularly desires to recom mend the superiority of the last-named Glasses. His theoretical as well as his practical knowledge of Optics, and his long practice in the Occulistic science, enables him to adapt, after an exam ination of the oyes, those glasses which correspond with the defect of near, far or weak sight. Glasses can be fitted to any frame, of any shape or color.— Please call and examine the Spectacles. Ambrotypes and Photographs taken at all times on reasonable terms. Also, Sugars, Tobacco and Meer schaum Pipes constantly on hand. IsTEws.--The last Monitor informs us that honest Dave Caldwell, ESQ., had been absent from town for several days. We doubt whether he was missed by anybody but his dog Owen, as the edi torial columns of tho Monitor have been very slim for two weeks past. The Case of the Minnesota Indians, The following protest against Presi dential clemency in the case of the three hundred Indians convicted of participating in the Minnesota outra ges, signed by Senator Wilkin , lon and Itepresentatives Aldrich and Windom, NVZIS seat to the President. yesterday : WAsnixoros, December 2d, 1862. To the President of the United States: SIR: We have learned, indirectly, that, yon intend to pardon 0r reprieve a largo majority of the Indians in Minnesota, who. have been formally condemned for their participation in the brutal mas , acre or our people in the 100111.11 s of August and September last. If this be your purpose, as Rep re,;entatives from that State, we beg leave most respectfully to prote,t, again,t, it, and We do so !br the ibllow- ing rea , -,ons: These Indians were condemned, most of ihem, upon the te,timony of women whom they had carried into captivity. atter having murdered their fathers, lim,bands and brothers, and who were treated by these Indians with a brutality never known belbre in this country, not• equalled in the practices of the most bau•ha ons na tions. There were nearly ninety fe male cc plives. They Ivey° the wives and daughters of our neighbors and friends. They were intelligent and virtuous women. Some of theut were w ves and mothers ; others were young and interesting girls. These savages to whom you propose to extend your Executive clemency, when the whole country was quiet,. and the fau•met•s w..?ro busily engaged ice gathering their crops, arose n•ith fearful violence, and, travelling from ono farm Louse to another, indiscrimi nately mur,iered all the men, boys and little children they canto to; and, al though they sometimes spared the lives of the mothers and daughters, they did so only to take them into a captivity which was infinitely Worse than death. !kir. President, let us relate to you some, facts with which, we fear, you have not heretofore been made acquain ted. Those Indians whom (a.; we under stand) you propose to pardon and sot free, have murdered in cold blood nearly or quite one thousand of our people ; ravaged our frontier for a dis tance of more than one hundred and fifty miles, north and south ; burned the houses of the settlers, and driven from their houses more than ten thou sand of our people. They seized and carried into captivity nearly ono hun dred wlunen and girls, and, in nearly every instance, treated them with the most fiendish brutality. To show you, sir, the enormity of the::e outrages, we beg leave to state a few facts. which are well known to our people, but delicacy forbids that Wit Should mention the 11:1111C3 of the par ties to whom we maw. lil 000 ”.,tance, bome ton or twelve of these Indians visited the house of a worthy farmer, who, at the 6111 S, way engaged with his sons in stacking wheat. They stealthily approached the place where this honest farmer was at work, and, seizing their oppor tunity, shot the father and his two sons at the stack. They then went to the house, killed two little children in the presence of their mother, 11'110 Wits quite Hi of consumption, and then they took the siek mother and a beau tiful little daughter, thirteen years of ago, into captivity. But this is not all, nor is it the most appalling feature of this awful tragedy. Its horror is yet to be revealed. After removing these unhappy prisoners to a lodge, Wide!' was some miles away, these fiends incarnate, placing a guard over the body of the wearied and exiuttit ed mother, took her little girl outside or the lodge, removed all her clothes, and fastened her upon her back on the ground. They then commenced their world of' brutality- upon the body of this young girl. One by one they vi olated her person, unmoved by her cries or it nehocked by the evident signs of her approaching dissolution. This ,cork Was continued until her licav only father relieved her from suffering. They left her deed upon the ground.— This outrage was committed within a lbw feet of a sick and dying mother. There is another instance oft girl eighteen years of age. We knew her well befin•e anti at the time of her cap. tire. She was as l'enned 1111 a girl as we had in the State.— None had more or heiter friends; no one was more worthy of them than she. She was taken captive by these Indians ; she was taken. her arms were tied behind her, and she was tied rtst to the ground and ravished by some eight or ten of these convicts befbre the cords were unloosed from her limbs. This girl fortunately lived to testily against the wretches who had thus violated her. Without being more specific, we will state, that all or nearly all the women Who were cap tured, were violated in this way. Again. there was a little boy brou g ht to St. Paul (whose father and mother had been murdered,) whose life was spared, as a witness of the horrid na ture of this massacre. His right eye was cut completely out; it had fallen from its socket, and perished on his cheek. His two little sisters, aged re spectively six and tom• years, were al so saved, but in an awfully mutilated condition. Their Lender arias had been mangled'with the savages' knives and otherwise fearfully wounded, and left on the ground for dead. Mr. President, there was no justifi cation or pretext oven for these bru talities. We state what we know when wo say that, the Sioux agent, Major Galbraith°, has labored faith fully and efficiently for the welfare of these Indians, The Government,, as you know, has built a house and op'en ed a farnt l'or every one of these Indi ans who would reside itpon and culti vate it. Missionaries. as our worthy Bishop ern' testify, have labored zeal ously among them for their spitdtual welthre. There has been paid to thorn yearly the interest upon $2,000,000. Farming implements have been pur chased and thrillers have been employ ed by the Government to improve and cultivate their land',. These Indians are called by some, prisoners of war. There was no war about it. It was wholesale robbery, rape and 'murder. These Indians were not at war with their murdered vie ti The people of Minnesota, Mr. Pres ident, have stood firm by you, and by your Administration. They have giv en both you and it their cordial sup port. They have not violated low They have borne these sufferings with a patience such as but few people ever exhibited under such extreme trials These Indians are now at their mer cy ; but our people have not risen up to slaughter them, because they believed that their President would deal with them justly. We are told, Mr. President, that a committee from Pennsylvania. whose families are living happily in their pleasant homes in that State. have called upon you, and petitioned you to pardon these IndianA. We have a high respect for the religious senti ments of your petitioners; but we sub snit that it is bad taste, indeed, that it is entirely unbecoming them, to inter fere in matters with which they are so little acquainted, and which relate to • the security of our own people. We protest agaihst the pardon of these Indians; because, if it is clone, the Indians will become more insolent and erne! than they ever were befbre, believing—as they certainly %yin be lieve—that their great father at Wash ine;ton either justifies their acts or is afraid to punish them fn• their et-lines. We protest ajainst it. because, it' the President does not permit, these exe entions to take place, under the forms of law, the outraged people of Minne sota will dispo.ie 01 these wretches without law. These two people can not live together. \Ve do not wish to see mob law in augurated in M`innesota, us it certain ly will be it you fx•ee the people to it. We tremble at the approach of Such a condition of things in our State. You can give Its peace, or Von Can give its IaIVIO4S violence. \Ve pray you. sir, in view of a I that We have suffered, and of the danger which still awaits us. let the law be executed—let justice be done our people. With high respect, we aro your obe dient. servants, M. S. WILKINSON, UYtiU., A L [MAL \\TM. W NDO M.. Report of the S3ofetary of th 6 Navy. Wo have received the report of the Iron. Mr. Welles, Sccretary of the Na vy, which is a vol e and inter esting doc.ament, We can give bat a brief review of it: The naval operations and achieve ments during the paqt, year are care fully and fully reviewed; and, while the exploits of the various vessels comprising the North and South At lantic and the Ea:,tern and Western Gulf Squadrons, and the ‘Vcstern Flo tilla, are alluded to in complim , ,illta”.l ,- and congratulatory terms, the service rendered by the vessels blockading the ports 011 the Southern coast is pre nouncod to be so cffactive that even foreign btatesmen, who, a few months since, proclaimed a perfect blockade to be a" material impossibility," now acknowledge it to be. conela-dve and effectual. The di,tribution of the naval force. the gunboat fleet, the Jame' river flo tilla, the success or the various exp9di- Lions South and We,t, the ravages or the " 29J" awl other privateer 4, the present and paA condition of the Na vy, the intro faction and imp wt•tneo of iron clads, the imprtanee and t wc,e,-- sity of a yard and. de l »t for an iroa clad navy, the advi,ihility eqablish ing a naval depot on one of the rivers in the Valley of the Mississippi, the defences or our harbors, the Naval Academy, and other subjects connect ed with the Department, are briefly, or in exteaso, referred to by the SOCI3- tarV. We are told that nearly the entire seaboard of the insur g ent region— front Norfolk and the outlet of the Chesapeake, through Id ' , bloke, New bern and Beautbrt, N. C., Port Royal, Tybee, Fernandina, Key West, Pensa cola, to New Orleans and Galveston— is practically in our hands, held fast and irrevocably under the guns of our Navy, or else garri,oned and governed by our military force, and but a ,tort time can elap , o before the few remain i n g ports which are in the pos,es sioo uf• the rebels will he reduced to our occupation and authority. It may thou bccome a. question for decision whether our• fleet-3 cannot be releasetffrom the duties of a blockade. and the commerce of these ports he subjected to such conditi,ms. tints and regulations 115 a wise war policy may prescribe, and a war power rue. The action of the parties who built :Ind fitted but the 29)," in tit:4l'llla violation Or British and of Royal proclamation or nNit,,,iity, in com mented upon. and the po,sibility of fit- Imre request fur indemnification from the British Government for the destruction of private property by that vessel intimated. In reference to the proposed navy yard and depot for an iron-clad Navy, the Secretary reviews the action of the Colmnittee appointed to examine the most advantageous Sites, New London being considered the must preferable hmation by four of the Members of that Committee, and the others as ful ly and emphatically giving their pref erence to League Island, and concludes his remarks upon the subject by ex pressing his ofiicial opinion that " While there are sonic obvious mid admitted objections to League Island, no place has been proposed that combines so many advantages, unless it be the 'con tracted and altogether inadequate yard at Philadelphia." Under these circumstances, he proposes" to receive and accept for the Government the munificent donation of the city of Phil adelphia, unless Congress Shall other wise direct." In March, 18t1, there were forty vessels in commission in the United States Navy, and in all but seven thou sand six hundred mon, two hundred and seven only of whom were in the ports and receiving ships on the At lantic coa.4. At the present time, there are afloat and progressing to r.ipid completion four hundred and twenty - SCVOII vessels, carrying three thousand two littudeud and sixty-eight guns, and of the capacity of three hun dred and forty thousand ana thirty six tons. ; h2ninell and other eta plorres 'now cm hoart the ve s sels ; num bet. twenty-eight thousand, while at the Navy Yards and Stations twelve thousand mechanics and laborers fire daily employed. The views of the Secretary upon the subject of iron clads are very important. Ile gives the history of the building of the Monitor, the . Galena and the Iron sides, awl of the officering and timely arrival of the first-named to put a stop to the ravages of the rebel Merrimac near Norfolk. A very graphicAescrip (ion of the scenes connected with-that ever memorable fight is given by Mr. After detailing the events of the first day's evil work by the Merrimac in which she destroyed the Cumberland and the Congress, and showing the precarious condition of the St. Law rence and the Minnesota, both of which had grounded, and were expect ing the renewal of the attack upon them the next Morning. " All efforts to get the Minnesota afloat during the night, and into a safe position, were totally unavailing. The morning was looked fur with deep anx iety, as it would, in all probabitity, twin:, a renewed attack front the for midt"tble assailant. At this critical and anxious moment, the Monitor, one of the newly finished armored vessels, canto into Ilampton Roads, front New York, under the command of Lieut.. John L. Worden, and a little after midnight anchored alongside the Min nesota. At six o'clock the next morn ing, the Merrimac, as anticipated, again made lice appearance, and opened her . fire upon the Minnesota. Promptly obeying the signal to attack, the Mon itor ran down past the Minnesota, and. laid herself close alongside the Merri mac, between that formidable vessel and the Minnesota. '• The fierce e millet between these two iron clads lasted for several hours. It was, in appear nee. an unequal con flict ; for the Merrimac was a large and noble structure, and the Monitor was, in comparison. .aitnost difninutive.— But the Monitor was strong in her ar mor, in the ingenious inn-elty of her construction, in the Invite calibre of her two guns, and the valor and skill with wide!) she was Itindled. After several hours fighting the Merrimac found herself overmatched, and, leav ing the Monitor, sought to renew the attaek on the Minnesota; but the Mon itor again placed herself' between the two vessels, and re-opened her fire up on her adversary. At noon the Mor rimae, seriously damaged, abandoned the contest, and, with her companions, retraced to iv anis N orfol Ic. " Thus terminated the most remark- able naval combat of modern times, purimy, of any age. The fiercest and most ti n •oti.lable naval assault upon the power of the Union which has ev. cr been male by the insurgents was heroie.dly repelled, and a new era was opened in the history of marithno war titre." The report says that <