else to institute
inquiries, etc.

S. Wyatt, Augusta, Ga., writes in favor of appeals to the patriotism of
the people to counteract what Mr. Toombs has done. What has he done? But
he advises the President, to whom he professes to be very friendly, to
order a discontinuance of seizures, etc.

A. Cohen (Jew name), purser of the blockade-running steamer "Arabia" at
Wilmington, has submitted a notable scheme to Gen. Winder, who submits
it to the Secretary of War, establishing a police agency at _Nassau_.
Gen. W. to send some of his detectives thither to examine persons coming
into the Confederate States, and if found "all right," to give them
passports. It was only yesterday that a letter was received from Gen.
Whiting, asking authority to send out a secret agent on the "Arabia," to
see what disposition would be made of her cargo, having strong
suspicions of the loyalty of the owners and officers of that vessel.

Gov. Z. B. Vance complains indignantly of Marylanders and Virginians
appointed to office in that State, to the exclusion of natives; he says
they have not yet been recalled, as he had a right to expect, after his
recent interview with the President. He says he is disgusted with such
treatment, both of his State and of himself. Alas! what is behind?

Night before last some thirty of the enemy's barges, filled with men,
attempted to take the ruins of Sumter by assault. This had been
anticipated by Beauregard, and every preparation had been made
accordingly. So the batteries at Forts Moultrie, Bee, etc. opened
terrifically with shell and grape; the amount of execution by them is
not ascertained: but a number of the barges reached the debris of
Sumter, where a battalion of infantry awaited them, and where 115 of the
Yankees, including more than a dozen officers, begged for quarters and
were taken prisoners. No doubt the casualties on the side of the
assailants must have been many, while the garrison sustained no loss.
This is substantially the purport of a dispatch from Beauregard to Gen.
Cooper, which, however, was published very awkwardly--without any of the
niceties of punctuation a fastidious general would have desired.
Nevertheless, Beauregard's name is on every tongue.

The clerks in the departments were startled to-day by having read to
them an order from Brig.-Gen. Custis Lee (son of Gen. R. E. Lee), an
order to the captains of companies to imprison or otherwise punish all
who failed to be present at the d