—HO distinguished as General Hancock, in his efforts to organize a new corps. I shall throw no obstacles in liig way on the present occasion, but I cannot, cer tainly. be expected to invite aviolation of laws in carrying out a plan which sacrifi ces the rights of the State under existing laws, and would leave the men unprotec ted by them, so far as concerns future provisions for their cumfort and that of their families. 1 will further observe that it appears by the report of the Adjutaut General, herewith transmitted, that the State, un •der the system established by law. has put into the military service of the Uni ted States since the commencement of the war, the following number of men, viz : Troop* *ent Into *errico during ISO 4 : Organization* f'»r three yearn term 0,806 Oriranigatiou* for the one hundred days term 7.076 Organizations fcr the one year term 1f1.01'4 Volunteer recruit* 2rt,557 Drafted men and ■atatituteii 10,061 Hermit- f.,r roguliu army 2,1*74 lte-« nliitm«ii(« of J'cnnsyltania Volua • Infandry 13 Cavalry Artillery 7'.H» Acci«diled to other iMutea.. ;ts^ Troops sent Into the jenrlreof the L'. 8. HlneetlieromtiH-nremeiit of therel"-!- Ilon, including the ninety days militia in the department* of the Mononga hela and Susquehanna, in 1864: Inning the ye.tr I*ol I.TO^tt I) • do 1802 71,100 Do v* 1883 4.1,040 Do do IHOI 73,828 Re enlistment of Pennsylvania Volun teers 17,*7® The 25,000 militia of 1802 are not in cluded in this statement. I call the attention of the Legislature to the Report of the Surveyor General, herewith presented, and commend the suggestions made by that officer to your .■consideration. This message is accompanied by full reports of all the military departments.— They exhibit the largo amount of service performed during the past year, and con tain a full history of all the military ope rations of the State. Many valuable re commendations are made in them to pro mote the efficiency of our volunteers, and the comfort of the sick and wounded, which I commend to your earnest and im mediate attention. It affords 1110 great satisfaction to bear my testimony to the ability, diligence and fidelity of all the officers in these several departments. Before closing this message, I desire to advert to the delay which has sometimes occurred in the passage of the general ap propriation bill. It is necessary that this bill should become a law, as otherwise the action of Government would be stop ped. To delay its presentation to the Executive, as was done at the last regular session, till a late hour of the night be fore the morning fixed for the final ad journment, is to deprive the peo^' l of their right to have all acts submitted to the revision of the Legislature before be coming laws, in case the Executive should not approve them. If there had been time, I should probably have returned • the appropriation bill of last year for such revision, as when 1 had the opportu nity of deliberately examining it, I found provisions which I could not have ap proved—but that opportunity was denied me before the bill had become a law. and in fact, as the Legislature was on the point of adjournment, the only question presented tome was whether that bill should become a law without amendment or the necessities of the government re main unprovided for. The gallantry of our soldiers in the field still sheds lustre on the Common wealth, and that their merit is apprecia ted by a generous people is shown by the continued and cheerful' liberality with . which the men and women of the State contribute of their means for their com fort and welfare. May the blessing of God be on those brave men who havo stood by the country through tho dark hours of her trial. A. G. CURTIN. EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ] LLARRISBURG, JAN. 4. 1805. } - «« •• i» Tlie Impending Dratt. Six weeks from to-day the Government will draft the number of men assigned in each sulidistrict that has not at that time filled its quota by volunteering. A num ber of the wards of the city have taken the matter seriously in hand, and will soon commence putting men into the field to their credit. The Fourth Ward, Pitts burgh, has nearly filled its quota already, and with a slight effort will be out of the draft when the number of men required from it will have been ascertained. The following facts will be of interest to all who may bo liable to the draft: Volunteers receive the Government bounty according to the time for which they agree to; serve. For one year, 8100; for two years, S2OO for three years, WOO. These amounts ore paid in installments. To * one ycars's volunteer, when mustered in, $33 33; to a two year's recruit, SOO 00; to a three yoar's recruit, SIOO. Two oth er installments are to be paid to the vol unteer or his representatives duriug the term of service. The monthly pay of a private, either volunteer, substitute or .drafted man, is sixteen dollars a month. Non-cnmmissioned and commissioned of ficers receive an increased pay beyond the rates which were allowed before the last session of C(ingress. Drafted men receive no bounty, either from the Federal Government or the city, neither do substitutes for drafted men. or men liable to draft furnished in advance of the draft, receive bounties from the Government Kepresemativc substitutes, for persons not liable to draft are con sidered as volunteers, and receive the Federal and municipal bounties, and whatever their principal agrees to pay them. Representative substitutes for those not liable to draft may be persons who aro liable. It should be borne-in mind, however, that substitutes for per sons liable to draft, furnished before drafting, must not themselves be lia ble. An enrolled man furnishing an alicu as a substitute, is exempt for tho time of *erviee of tho substitute, unless the alien ■ becomes a citizen, or declares his inten sion to become so, in which case the sub stitute is liable to draft, and his principal iikowisc. A man may enlist in the army or navy for three years as a substitute. If in the navy he must be twenty-three years #>ld, j Those interested in the draft should I pay particular attention that the names of all those not liable to be stricken from the enrollment list. Every name taken off reduces the quota of tho district. Each of the wards, while they oppoint a committee to hunt up all the exempts of the district who may bo enrolled, and BCC that their names are dropped. The following dispatch from the Pro vost Marshal-General, in reference to an inquiry as to the allowance made on this call for men putin under previous requi sition for troops for Two and three years, indicates a possible very important reduc tion in the city's quota: — WASHINGTON, Pec. 29,1804. '■Quotas are assigned after taking into account thenumberof years service which tho several localities have furnished. One three years' man counts three (3) j'ears; n two years' two (2), and a one year man one (1) year. "JAMES B. FHY, Provost Marshal General." The Pirato Rappahannock- We find the case of tho Rappahan nock. rebcl'pirate, reported at length in our English files. Although the case was given in our foreign summary, there are a few points brought by the papers which make it more interesting and worthy of fuller notice. Tho Rappahannock was fitted out at Sheerness as a pirate, it will bo remembered, in 1803, under the name of the Scylla. She bad been a screw sloopjof her Majesty's navy before that time, and knowin as tho Victor. She sailed from Sheerness to Calais. The case was brought into the Court of the Queen's Bench, at Westminster, on the sth of December. It involved the inter pretation of the British neutrality laws. We copy from the London Times a por tion of the testimony of a witness who had been employed on tho vessel as a fire man. and do not wonder that his sworn statement "burst like a bombshell*' ou court, jury and spectators : A witness on the cross-examination said that he came home from China about two months ago, aud had only received three weeks' wages, and Mr. Rumble said that he was authorized by the "company" —that is, the firm of owners—to pay them a guinea a week. The witness went onto state that a Government tug took the ship out of*harbor the day she left Sheerness. ,11c camo up on board and saw the Government tug towing her. Capt. Wise here exclaimed—the great est falsehood ever told! The Lord ChieF Justice examined the witness closely as to this. He swore posi. lively that he was certain that .it was a Government tug. lie had been in the Government service and knew a Govern ment tug when he saw it. There could, lie Said, bo no mistokc about it. The solicitor General pressed him as to' when it was. p ' Tho witness—When wo wont out from i Sheerness to Calais. The night we left. [The Witness spoke quite positively,and firmly, and there could Lc no mistake as to what he meant. Ilis statemcntsccmed to create tho utmost surpriseamong the coun sel for the Crown.] Divested of all foreign matter, the case is scamingly very simple. A British man-of-war was sold to the rebels; fitted out in part in a British port; manned by British sailors and under tho cogni zance of subaltern British officials, towed by a British government tug to sea. This is the result of a British official examina tion. We do not wonder that Captain Wise "exclaimed ;" nor that the state ment "created;" the utmost surprise among the counsel for the Crown." If the testimony of the witness stands, that government will have made out a much strynger case against itself than it ever attempted to make out against us. The Court adjourned the trial until February for consultation.— Phi hi. North Ainer. The Joint Itrown Anniversary. The Richmond rebels have not forgot | ten their execution of John i rown, and they have good oanso to remember the shedding of the blood of that martyr to human freedom. The Richmond Dis patch of December 2d speaks of the " memorable day,"and as if troubled with the blood of "bravo old Ossawattamie," declares that "the events of that day, and of the week that preceded it, will never fade from our memory." John Brown was hung on the 2d of" December, 1859, and the Dispatch says "that was the be ginning of this war." It adds: We say we shall never forget the day when Brown was hung. It was one of the most lovely days that ever came from Heaven. It was as mild as though it were the middle of May; and it might well have passed for such, hail it not been that the tiees were bare of foliage. But five years, as time is counted, have passed since that memorable day. And yet the events of a whole century have been com pressed into that little space. When we look upon that day, over the five interven ingyears, we can hardly realize the fact that wo are the same person, that this is the same country, and that the objects most familiar to us are, really, the same objects. It all seems "like a phantom or a hideous dream." We had all, then, read of war; but how few of us had any cunceptioa of what it realiy was! We had heard old people talk of the trials and troubles of the old Revolution, and their juniors eloquent on the subject of the Mexioau war. But the most lively imagination had sever formed a concep tion of the gigantic struggle of which that day's work was the opening scene. KgrNew York city will have to furn ish about ten thousand men on the pres ent call for troops. r ourselves. it must liavo them. If Providence con demns us to a master, let it not bo a Yan kee. Of all tho people on earth, we have the most reason to loathe and drcd tlicm. Any terms with any other would be pref erable to subjugation by them. If states manship cannot save us, it can palliate our misery by saving us from the Yankees. Our people would infinitely prefer a fa vorable alliauce with Kuropcan nations. 'l'lie Richmond Enquirer , after com menting on the above, says : If it be ne cessary to convince the world that wcarc lighting for self-government of whites, then we should liberate the negroes; and if that liberation should secure our rec ognition and the guaranty of England or France to our independence, we believe the people of these State* would not hes itate to make the sacrifice. Tho conse quences of emancipation would fall up on the negro. The act would bo one of necessity, not of choice, taken against our judgment and convictions, but to save us from the horrors of a prolonged war and ruin, and tho destruction involved in the success of our enemy. Important Information. The Augusta Sentinel gets the follow ing information from a gentleman who left Savannah just before it was surren dered into the hands.of tho enemy; " Tho works around the city were very strong and tho place in all probability would have been- held had it not been for the fall of Fort McAllister. The usual garrison numbered aboutotft hundred and twenty-five men, A day or two before it j fell, however, about six hundred more troops were sent to their aid. The fort was attacked on the north side by Sher man's forces. If it were knowu that had the fort been as strong on the land side as it was on the water side, it could never have been captured. After Sherman had captured the fort lie communicated with the fleet and procured a bountiful supply of ammunition. Sherman also transfer red the heavy guns from Fort McAllister to a position from which hi conld shell the city, in case he wished to. No demand was made for the surrender of the city until Saturday. On that day he demand ed an unconditional surrender of the city. General Beauregard, in substance, inform ed him that lie knew the way to the city, and conld take it if lie was able. General Beauregard left the ci yon Sunday. Tho residents of Savannah did not ex poet that the city would be captur ed. r J hey were totally unprepared for such a result. But very few of them succeeded in getting away. Thousands who did were obliged to leave most of their | effects behind. Tho best order was main tained throughout tho entire siege All the whiskey was locked up. Four local companies were assigned to police duty, and kept law breakers quiet. One or two fires occurred; but ltttle prop erty was damaged. All the rice on the plantations in the vicinity of the city, fell into the hands of tho Yankees. Some estimate tho amount at 500,000 b she s. The confederate Government succeeded in removing mo t of its stores. The main loss sustained by it, was the loss of siege guns about tho place, and the gun boats. The pontoon bridge across which our troops parsed, was built at the foot of one of the streets t>f the city, During the siege several attempts to destroy our communications on the Carolina side were made, all of which proved futile. Bish op Abbott was in the city on Monday.— Our informant does not know whether he left the place or not. A large portion of the Central Bail road cars were sent down the Savannah and Gull Bail road before that line v.a.s interrupted. Both of the printing offices of the city fell in to the hands of tho Y'ankecs. We are ipformed both editors left before the cap itulation. 31 r. Sucad, of the Republi can, left early last week, with the Govern ment funds, of which lie was custodian. Mr. Smith, of the Xctrs, did not leave until Monday night. '1 he Richmond Examiner gives the following editorial, strikingly significant of th public temper at the Capital : [From the Itiehmoinl Exnrniner, Dee. 80.) When in any crisis of a nation's fate, men are seen to lose their heads, and to look all around them in wild alarm, it is proof that they at least are subdued. If the mass of their countrymen had not more presence of mind than they have, the doom of all would be near at hand. They all seem to have some such fright ened counsellors in the Confederacy at this moment, and their wild outcries grate and jar dreadfully upon the general j calm and resolute tone of the country.— ] They do not help, but hinder. They rc | sctnble shrieking passengers in a tempest, to whom the boatswain had to say : You mar our labors; keep your cabins, you do ssist the storm. One public journal ex horts those Confederate States to throw ! themselves back into the arms of Eng land, France, and Spain, the powers which first planted colonies here; togo back like the prodigial gon ; to acknowl edge that we were young birds that had broke shell too soon; to recall all those high words we have had in our mouths for one, two or three generations, about liberty, tho rights of rush and democra cy, and promise not too so any more. ' To bo sure poor frightened creatures tell us to take this course if we should prove unable to maintain our own cause against our enemies; but to utter the sug gestion, above all, to utter it now, is to say too plainly, not ns we should, but when we shall, or rather inasmuch as we have proved uiiablc to-sustain ourselves; thnt is, seeing wo are beaten, ovorworked and overwhelmed, and rtady to sink, como all jo gods and Christians, and res cue us, and take us lo yo rsclvcs as your vassals and liege subjects forever. The blind pr.r.:c of thb writer makes liiin even utiuole to see that neither England, nor France, nor Spain, nor the three combin ed, would touch us with the end of the longest pole if we once made so helpless an exhibition of ourselves. Nations are not '' Good Samaritans." If they see a weaker brother fallen among thieves, wounded and half dead, they do not trou ble themselves about his hard fato. They even pass by on the other side, but empty his pockets, if peradventuro there be somewhat left to take away from him. If neither England nor France will so much as recognize us, not even know of our existence, while wo are vigorously bnfliing and beating back gigantic inva sions year after year, in haughty reliance on our own prowess and good cause, and able, to offer them advantageous alli ances, and reciprocal benefits, how would they receive such an invitation as this, now that wo are sinking and perishing under the mighty power of the Yankee nation ? Now that we are beaten and beggared, we pray you togo to war Tfith that nation for our redemption, and having rescued us, as we have nothing else to offer, take ourselves and our children for vassels to* you and your children. Take this land that once was ours and among you. This will not do. The alternative is not offered us, as panic-stricken mortals imag ine, to be colonists under England or France or subjects of the Yan kees. We are not choice, " The very proposal suggested to be made to those powers would prove that wo are already subjugated. It | would be an admission that we had set up a pretention we could not sup port and provoked an enemy we could not fight, and they would coldly bid us creep back into the Union and stay there. They would understand that the United States, if this Confed eracy be once subdued, must be the ruling power of the West. They would be glad to cement their friend ship with our enemies by treating us with contumely, and would so en deavor to make a general treaty, set tling the affairs of all America, and giving guarantees both to Mexico and Canada. One is ashamed even to refute and rebuke this mean sugges tion, begotten by terror upon igno rance. It would be pleasing to think one shonbl never hear more of it, but then there is another, and not very dissimilar in kind or in origin, an other counsellor who also, of course, takes for granted that we are virtu ally conquered. lie advises us to make known to the European nations that we are ready to abolish slavery. That slavery shall not be permitted to prejudice our recognition as a na tion, and we are assured that this would secure recognition, and per haps intervention. " It is not alleged that England or France, or the Government of either has ever said or hinted that they would make this bargain, but if they would, then we are exhorted to- say that we would. Now this also, how ever the idea may be muffled up, amounts exactly to- an invitation to England and France, or one of them, to make war upon the United States, in order to save us from Yankee do mination, and in return we arc to of fv~r them what? Destruction of our labor power, which would leave us of no use to them, to ourselves, or any body else. It is said, indeed, that this would be a great concession to the opinion of mankind, which is anti-slavery, and that the evil conse quences would fall upon the unfortu nate negro whom we should thus base ly abandon. Very well, then, it would be a very humiliating confes sion of defeat, and would also, by them, be taken as a confession that we had deserved defeat. We must not deceive ourselves. " It signifies Bothing- to say that we would rather give np slavery than be subject to Yankees. On the con trary, when we should have made this graceful confession to the public opinion of Europe, then Europe would very certainly cheat us, and seeing that we were whipped, and the pluck taken out of us, would make friends of our enemy at our expense. What does our brave army think of these wretched outcries of alarm and self abasement ? They sound as if they were shipwreckeda Ireadyand drifting on a raft, having white flags to every point of the compass, anxiously scan ning the distant horizon, and one crying ' Lo here' and another 'Lo there.' Matters do not so stand with us, and if they did we should be al-; ready lost. Our help and hopes nev-! cr were and are not now, with Eu rope, Asia or Africa. Ilere on our own ground, we have powers and ma terials both to vindicate our independ- \ ence and destroy our enemies. If j our affairs are now somewhat gloomy ; it not for want of sympathy or aid abroad, but of energy and wisdom at home. It is for want of confidence j in the efficient administration of our military affairs, which is only trivial. Neither can this confidence be re stored by always crying' Confidence,' 'Only let us have confidence.' 'Have trust in one another,' and slanf of that sort. On the contrary, matters are made worse, for mankind natur ally abhors your 'confidence man.' Our affairs can bo restored only by placing the military affairs of tho contry in really capable hands—in tho hands of on? who will not need to keep piteousdy appealing for con fidence, or feelingly depreciating mis construction of orders and by giving to him a carte blanche , yes, anil a caxte noire , too, and saying. Now lead on and we will follow thee.' " Then we will have no need of looking anxiously across the the At lantic to see whether freedom is about to dawn upon us from the East. Our National Independence is not carried over sea in ships—where it grows thero it stands like an oak. if wo have not hero within ourselves the el ement of it, materials and spirit, body _ and soul, then we shall never sec it —never." The sentence above in which tho Examiner wants Lee again carte noire as well as carte blanche, black control as well as white, indicates tho growing determination to arm tho slaves. x NEWS ITEMS. Ntw Yon v. Janofiw-8. The Times' Washington says it is ru mored that Oen. Sherman has communi cated to (he President that the Georgia State authorities have applied to como back into the Union, and that Secretary Stanton's visit to Savannah is doubtless in connection with this subject. The Timet says Gen. Thomas ha* t«en made a Major-General in the regular ar my, vice Gen. Fremont, resigned, dating from his victory over Hood. Similar nominations for Sherman Meade and Sheridan have been sent to the Senate. A letter from the army of the James, dated Friday, says all is quite in this l>e partment. A severe rain-storm has pre vailed all day, making the roads almost impassable. It is known that a bill is pending in tho House of Representatives for the recon structions of the States, the Government of which have been subverted or over thrown by rebellion, and thus establish ing a rule applicable to them all. IteprcscTitative Wilson hns introduced a substitute for a bill providing that no Representatives shall be received from any such State nntil by act or joint reso j lution of Congress, and approved by the President, or passed notwithstanding his objection. It shall be declared that the State has formed a just local government, republican in fi>rm, entitled to represen tation in Congren. In other words tho substitute proposes fo deal with each State seperately, on its own merits, with out establishing a system of rendmission applicable to them. Richmond papers of the fith. in addi tion to what was telegraghed last night have the following: A violent tornado passed over middle A abama on the '27 th of December, kill ing fifteen persous, demolishing a number of houses, and destroying the railroad bridge on the Montgomery and Wast | Point Railroad, twenty miles east of Mont 'cr ornery. The amount of damage done j wai immense. At the battle of Franklin, he Missou ri brigade went into the fight six hundred | and eighty-eight strong, and had onehun ! dred and nine k lied, two hundred and | forty-two wounded and ninety-six captur-' ! »