ran along the left bank of the river, a distance of about twelve miles, from Harper's Ferry to a place called Point of Rocks, the rebels had obstructed by tearing up the rails, and throwing upon the track, by the force of powder, from a crag, an immense boulder, weighing about one hundred tons. The road was speedily repaired by the patriots, the rock blown away, and thus easy communication was reëstablished with Baltimore. On the 17th of June, a balloon ascension for military purposes took place at Washington. The balloon was connected with the War Department by telegraph, and the following message was sent across the wires to the President. It was the first message ever telegraphed from a balloon, and was as follows: BALLOON ENTERPRISE, WASHINGTON, June 17, 1861. SIR: This point of observation commands an area of nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle of encampments, presents a superb scene. I take great pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging my indebtedness to your encouragement, for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the military service of the country." "Yours respectfully, "To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." "T. S. C. LOWE. At 9 o'clock, in the morning of June 4th, the Honorable Stephen A. Douglas died at Chicago, Ill. He was, in all respects, an extraordinary man, one of the most memorable our country has produced. His death was characteristic of his life. Mrs. Douglas, who sat at his side, aware that the last moment was at hand, asked what message he wished to send to his sons, Robert and Stephen, who were students at Georgetown. "Tell them," said the dying statesman, with emphatic tone, “to obey the laws, and support the Constitution of the United States." A moment after, he requested to be raised in his bed, that he might look once more out upon the world he was about to leave forever. Then faintly articulating the words "death, death, death," his spirit took its flight to the judgment seat of Christ. On the 20th of June, five thousand Northern troops passed through the streets of Baltimore to the Potomac, without the slightest disturbance. Cook's light artillery of Boston had previously performed some evolutions in Baltimore street, which were very suggestive of danger to the roughs. Starting at double quick down the street with their battery, they would come to a cross street, deploy on either side, unlimber, load, and look around eagerly for some foe to sweep down with grape and canister; and all this would be done in less than two minutes. Such moral suasion was found to be wonderfully potent over the Baltimore mob. The soldiers would conclude their drill, by singing "The Star-spangled Banner," amidst the waving of handkerchiefs and cheers of the crowds of loyal people in the streets, and on the balconies of the houses. By the close of the month, one hundred thousand Union troops were upon the Potomac, and probably at least an equal number of armed rebels. Our troops were necessarily much scattered to protect exposed points from raids of the rebels, and as Jeff. Davis, at Richmond, could easily concentrate 75,000 men, for a sudden attack upon Washington, there was still much solicitude for the safety of the Capital. About fifteen miles from Alexandria, on the Leesburg railroad, there is the little hamlet of Vienna. It was deemed important that the road to Vienna should be kept open, and, on the 17th of June, Gen. Schenck took the 1st Ohio Regiment, after dinner, and started in a train of cars, to leave detachments of men to guard all the bridges and other points, where the rebels might do mischief. They proceeded leisurely, pausing at intervals, detailing guards. Thus, mile by mile, the number of men in the cars grew thinner until, as they approached the outskirts of Vienna, but 180 men were left. The road wound through a valley, with hills and heavy thickets on each side, presenting the most attractive region imaginable for ambuscades. The train, consisting of one passenger car and four open platform cars, was pushed by the engine which was in the rear. The train was rounding a gentle curve, within half a mile of Vienna, and the men were laughing, quite unconscious of peril, when a masked battery of two small field pieces, on an adjacent eminence, opened fire upon them. The guns were entirely hidden, and the startling explosion was accompanied by the rush of balls which instantly killed five of their number, and wounded many others. The men instantly leaped from the cars, and formed in line of battle in a thicket, at the right of the track, just out of the range of the battery. Meanwhile shot and shell, in an incessant storm, were poured upon the train. The connection of the locomotive and the passenger car with the rest of the train, was severed by a cannon ball, and the affrighted engineer dashed off at full speed. The rebels now, 2,000 in number, composed of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, changed the range of their guns, and poured their deadly charges into the grove, where the situation of the little band seemed hopeless. But the Ohio men presented such an undaunted front, and so bravely returned the fire, that the rebels, who were South Carolinian, apprehensive that the engines had merely gone back a few miles for reënforcements, became irresolute, slackened their fire, and slowly retired. Gen. Schenck and Col. McCook, taking with them the bodies of the dead, and the wounded on litters and blankets, retired unmolested five miles, where, about nine o'clock in the evening, they took refuge with a detachment of their friends. The next day the bodies of the dead, the martyrs of liberty, were buried in the shadows of the woodland in that lonely ravine. May the songs of freemen alone, in future generations, be heard over their graves. Gen. The rebels immediately deserted Vienna, and the 69th New York regiment took possession of the place; while two Ohio regiments, encamped along the road, effectually protected it from injury. Schenck, in his report of this mishap, which certainly was the result of great imprudence, says: "I left camp with six hundred and sixty-eight rank and file, and twenty-nine field and company officers, in pursuance of Gen. McDowell's orders, to go upon this expedition." Our inexperienced officers, as well as soldiers, suffered many of these rebuffs, before they fully appreciated the wary foe, with whom they had to deal. On the 23d of June, Major-General McClellan took command, in person, of the Union forces in Western Virginia, then amounting to about 15,000 men, and issued a proclamation to his troops containing the fol lowing noble sentiments: "You are here to support the Government of your country, and to protect the lives and liberties of your brethren, threatened by a rebellious and traitorous foe. Bear in mind that you are in the country of friends, not of enemies that you are here to protect, not to destroy. Remember that I have pledged my word to the people of Western Virginia, that their rights in person and property shall be respected. I ask every one of you to make this good in the broadest sense. "Carry into battle the conviction that you are right, and that God is on our side. Your enemies have violated every moral law. Neither God nor man can sustain them. They have, without cause, rebelled against a wise and paternal government. They have seized upon public and private property. They have outraged the persons of Northern men, merely because they came from the North, and of Southern Union men, merely because they loved the Union. "You will pursue a different course. You will be honest, brave, and merciful. You will respect the right of private opinion. You will punish no man for opinion's sake. Show to the world that you differ from our enemies in these points of honor, honesty, and respect for private opinion, and that we inaugurate no reign of terror wherever we go." Soon we encountered another disaster, trivial, it is true, in its bearings upon the war, but very sad in the needless sacrifice of one valuable life, and the mutilation of several men with dreadful wounds. About thirty miles down the river from Washington there is, on the right side of the Potomac, a very important military position, commanding extensive reaches of the river, called Matthias Point. A small party of rebels was encamped there, preparing to erect batteries. The United States. steamer, reconnoitering the banks, discovered this movement, and, under cover of its guns, sent about forty men on shore, who drove in the rebel pickets, and commenced throwing up breastworks, which they intended to mount with guns from the ship. After about four and a half hours' labor, their sand intrenchments were completed at five o'clock in the evening. Feeling secure under the protection of the ships' guns, they seemed to have stationed no outside sentinels. While they were at work, a slave appeared upon the shore, waving a piece of white cloth upon a pole. He was taken on board the Freeborn, and informed Capt. Ward, the commander, that the rebels were lurking in the underbrush near by, one thousand in number. Still no special precautions were adopted, it either being thought that the testimony of a slave was not worth regarding, or that their guns afforded ample protection., The men on shore were just entering their boats, to return to the ship for the heavy guns, when the rebels, skulking through the dense underbrush, which entirely concealed them from view, poured in upon them a volley from nearly a thousand muskets, which was followed by a continuous and heavy fire. Not a rebel was to be seen. With their usual prudence they kept at so discreet a distance, that not one of the crew on shore was killed, though many were severely wounded. Pelted by an incessant storm of bullets, while the Freeborn threw shells into the forest, the men crowded into the boats and gained the ship, while a few, left behind in the tumult, escaped by swimming. Lieut. Chaplin swam to the steamer, carrying on his back a wounded comrade, who had four balls shot into him. John Williams, coxswain of the third boat, though a musket ball had pierced his leg, continued to wave the Stars and Stripes, which, before they reached the ship, was pierced by nineteen bullets. He was rewarded for his gallantry by promotion. Capt. Ward stood upon the deck of his ship, directing the guns which were throwing shells, almost at random, among the invisible rebels in the forest. One of these men, a little nearer to the Freeborn than the main body of the rebels, took deliberate aim, with a Sharpe's rifle, at a distance of five or six hundred yards. The ball passed through the body of Capt. Ward, and he fell instantly dead. These disasters gradually taught our inexperienced leaders that recklessness is not bravery. We received, however, many very severe chastisements before we were willing, practically, to admit that discretion is, at least, a very important part of valor. A man was once heard to thank God in his prayer that he had none of “that sneaking virtue called prudence." But in military affairs, where a commander holds the lives, perhaps, of thousands, in his hands, prudence is surely among the most exalted of all the virtues. FOREIGN RECEPTION OF SOUTHERN AGENTS.-SPEECH OF A. H. STEPHENS.-THE FRENCH LADI THE rebels, immediately upon the commencement of their organization, sent commissioners to Europe, to secure their recognition as an independent government. This act was characteristic of the judicial blindness which apparently accompanied all their movements. It would seem that effrontery could go no farther, than for a group of men, in this nineteenth century, to band together in a Confederacy, whose "corner-stone" they proclaimed loudly and defiantly to the world, to be "Slavery." But that they should, in addition, avow that it was also the object of their Confederacy to extend the system of human bondage as far as possible, over all the States and Territories of the American Union, and that they should then go to the Queen and Parliament of Great Britain, to solicit aid in their execrable enterprise, indicates audacity rarely exceeded. The darkness of slavery appears to have blinded them to the light of the age in which we live. They declared that it was impossible for England, or any other European power, to resist the bribery of their cotton bales; and were astounded to find that their claims were not instantly recognized. The Charleston (S. C.) Mercury, in the latter part of June, alluding to this subject, says: "It is now several months since our commissioners were sent to Europe. Thus far it seems they have got no farther than England. Mr. Rost, one of them, has gone over to France. But as he can have no authority to act alone, we presume that he goes rather to ascertain the views of the Emperor of the French, than to make a treaty. We infer from Mr. Rost's departure from London to Paris, that nothing has been accomplished in England. Indeed, from the order in Council forbidding Confederate privateers bring. ing their prizes into British ports, we are only surprised that any of the commissioners should have remained in London a day, after this new order was issued. Why our commissioners have lingered so long in England, and have not gone directly to the greatest source of success, the govern ment of France, we are at a loss to determine." But the "fanaticism," as the slaveholders called it, of the French, upon |