to $140.

It is doubtful whether the bill will pass, as most of the members are
agriculturists.

It is said and believed that several citizens from Illinois and Indiana,
now in this city, have been sent hither by influential parties, to
consult our government on the best means of terminating the war; or,
that failing, to propose some mode of adjustment between the
Northwestern States and the Confederacy, and new combination against the
Yankee States and the Federal administration.

Burnside has at last been removed; and Franklin and Sumner have
resigned. Gen. Hooker now commands the Federal Army of the Potomac--if
it may be still called an army. Gen. R----, who knows Hooker well, says
he is deficient in talent and character; and many years ago gentlemen
refused to associate with him. He resigned from the army, in California,
and worked a potatoe patch, Yankee like, on speculation--and failed.

FEBRUARY 2D.--After the feat at Charleston, Gen. Beauregard and
Commodore Ingraham invited the consuls resident to inspect the harbor,
and they pronounced the blockade raised, no United States ship being
seen off the coast. Then the general and the commodore issued a
proclamation to the world that the port was open. If this be recognized,
then the United States will have to give sixty days' notice before the
port can be closed again to neutral powers; and by that time we can get
supplies enough to suffice us for a year. Before night, however, some
twenty blockaders were in sight of the bar. It is not a question of
right, or of might, with France and England--but of inclination.
Whenever they, or either of them, shall be disposed to relieve us, it
can be done.

There was a fight near Suffolk yesterday, and it is reported that our
troops repulsed the enemy.

The enemy's gun-boats returned to the bombardment of Fort McAlister, and
met no success. They were driven off. But still, I fear the fort must
succumb.

Senator Saulsbury, of Delaware, has been arrested by the
Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, for his denunciation of Lincoln as an
"imbecile." And a Philadelphia editor has been imprisoned for alleged
"sympathy with secessionists." These arrests signify more battles--more
blood.

FEBRUARY 3D.--It appears that Gen. Pryor's force, 1500 strong, was
attacked by the enemy, said to be 5000 in number, on the Blackwater.
After some shelling and infantry firing, Gen. P. retired some eight
miles, and was not pursued. Our loss was o