that city, gets up a most glowing account of "Meade's
victory"--if it should, indeed, in the sequel, prove to have been one.
That Lee fell back, is true; but how many men were lost on each side in
killed, wounded, and prisoners--how many guns were taken, and what may
be the result of the operations in Pennsylvania and Maryland--of which
we have as yet such imperfect accounts--will soon be known.

JULY 10TH.--This is the day of fate--and, without a cloud in the sky,
the red sun, dimly seen through the mist (at noonday), casts a baleful
light on the earth. It has been so for several days.

Early this morning a dispatch was received from Gen. Beauregard that the
enemy attacked the forts in Charleston harbor, and, subsequently, that
they were landing troops on Morris Island. Up to 3 o'clock we have no
tidings of the result. But if Charleston falls, the government will be
blamed for it--since, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Gen. B., the
government, members of Congress, and prominent citizens, some 10,000 of
his troops were away to save Vicksburg.

About one o'clock to-day the President sent over to the Secretary of War
a dispatch from an officer at Martinsburg, stating that Gen. Lee was
still at Hagerstown awaiting his ammunition--(has not Col. Gorgas, Chief
of Ordnance, been sufficiently vigilant?)--which, however, had arrived
at the Potomac. That all the prisoners (number not stated), except those
paroled, were at the river. That _nothing was known of the enemy_--but
that cavalry fighting occurred every day. He concluded by saying he did
not know whether Lee would advance _or recross the river_. If he does
the latter, in my opinion there will be a great revulsion of feeling in
the Confederate States and in the United States.

Another dispatch, from Gen. J. E. Johnston, dated yesterday, at Jackson,
Miss., stated that Grant's army was then within _four_ miles of him,
with numbers double his own. But that he would hold the city as long as
possible, for its fall would be the loss of the State. I learn a
subsequent dispatch announced that fighting had begun. I believe
Johnston is intrenched.

To-day Mr. Secretary Seddon requested Attorney-General Watts, if he
could do so consistent with duty, to order a _nolle prosequi_ in the
District Court of Alabama in the case of Ford, Hurd & Co. for trading
with the enemy. Gen. Pemberton had made a contract with them, allowing
them to ship cotton to New Orleans, and to bring bac