We have frequent applications for
Klc numbers of the Local News, which we
not furnish. Our regular subscribers,
and those who purchase from the carriers,
bad better save their papers. There need
be no trouble about a file—just place tbe
sheets between two boards each day. '1 hey
will be interesting hereafter for reference, and
a history of town matters.
Volunteer Relief Association.- The
Volunteer Relief Association of this city held
its annual weekly meeting at Price's office,
on Thursday evening last, W. B Price in
tbe chair, and H. Peel, Secretary.
After the usual report of the Ward Com-,
mittees, and a detailed examination of the
Association for tho past week,
On motion it was resolved that the Secre
tary be requested to audit the account of the
Treasurer.
Several donations were announced, where
upon it was ordered that a list of all dona
tions since the opening of the Association be
published.
And after an interchange of views among
the gentlemen present, as to tbe operations
of the Association, the. meeting adjourned.
Donations.—The Volunteer Relief Asso
ciation have received tbe following donations
since the formation of the Association:
Wm. Man kins, one barrel of beef; James
Fadely, one-third cord of wood; Thos. Javins,
five barrels of herrings, Joseph Gregg, one
barrel Eastport herrings; J. B. Smoot, one
load of tan; S. Hefflebower, two barrels pork
and one cord of wood; Jas. Cole, one barrel
of barrings; J. T. Johnson, fifteen barrels of
fish; a friend to the poor, thirty barrels of
fish; G. W. Johnson, one cord ot wood; G.
H. Mcßurney, 0..c barrel of flour.
The Supply Store.—The Supply Store
still continue to bless many families in our
midst. The supply on the last distribution
day consisted of three hundred and thir.y
eiglit rations, supplied to one hundred and
forty-two families. The rations were made
up as follows :
1115 pounds of meat,
2'J-J bushels of meal,
807 pounds of flour,
1750 fish.
River Movements.—The U. S. steamer
Pensacola got up steam this morning and
started down the river. It is rumored she
is to make a trial trip as far as Indian Head
and then return to her moorings off this
city. Two schooners, one with hay, and the
other with grain tor the United States, ar
rived up this morning, and report that tbey
passed ihe batteries last night in a gale, and
were not shot at. A vessel loaded with
wood also came up apparently somewhat
injured, and cast anchor in the stream. The
brig Delaware which left here some days
since with a load of coal, is at anchor off Fort
Washington, haviug returned, unwilling to
venture within range of the batteries.
The Fuel Market.—The supply of fuel
this week has uot kept pace with the de
mand, owing to the fact that tbe United
States has been a large purchaser. Two
cargoes of anthracite coal arrived, all of
which was purchased by the Uuited States
at $9 per ton, except twenty-seven tons sold
to private consumers. Several cargoes of
wood have arrived by tbe river, and consid
erable also by railroad and carts, but the
present appearance ol things upon tbe river
has stiffened prices a little. We quote rates
as follows:
Coal. — Anthracite— None in market, last
saloa, $9 per ton. Cumberland, lump, $7,60.
Run of mine, $6,60. No fine in market.—
Wood.— Oak. $5,50(0i57.00.— Pine —none
for sale.
Mayor's Office. —The only case up this
morning was that of a lad charged with
breaking open the stall of Mr. B issart in the
oity market, and stealing therefrom some
250 cents.
The evidence not proving conclusively the
commission of the deed, and there being no
place for juvenile offenders, the lad was dis
charged, after an admonition.
G<.n. Sherman has ordered all the news
paper reporters off from Port Royal.
Th« City Market.—-The market this
morning was attended s imewhat more nu
merously than during the other m irnings of
this week. Prices, however,-cor tinued very
high, and for poultry, especially exorbi
tant.
WAR NEWS.
Tbe telegraphic dispatches from Washing
ton report that on yesterday morning a por
tion of Gen. McGall's division, engaged in
foraging and reuonnoiteringnear Dranesville
encountered a force of the Confederates, con
sisting of four regiments of infantry, a reg
iment of cavalry, and a battery of six pieces.
The Federal force engaged was Gen. Ord's
brigade, the first oegiment of rifles, and a
battery of four guns. The engagement last,
ed an hour and a half, and resulted in the
repulse of the Confederates, who retired leav
ing fifty-seven killed and twenty-two wound
ed en the field ; two of the latter aftewards
died. The Federal loss is reported to be ten
killed and fifteen wounded.
The demonstration made by the Confede
rates under Gen. Jackson, on Thursday, a*
Falling Waters, appears to have been for the
purpose of distracting the attention of the
Federal forces from one of the dams on the
canal, which they attacked and endeavored
to destroy with rifled guns, but without ef
fect. On Thursday night, a party of Fede
ral troops crossed the river in a skiff and
burned a mill. All was quiet in that vicinity
yesterday.
From Missouri, the U. S. government tel
egraphic dispatches report that a portion of
Gen. Pope's force surprised a camp of the
| Confederates on Thursday afternoon, and
: captured thirteen hundred prisoners, one
: thousand horses and a large quantity of ar
my stores. The Confederate loss in killed
j and wounded was not known; tbe Federals
J had two killed and eight wounded. Two
: hundred wagon loads of clothing for Gen.
j Price's army have been captured near Seda
i lia. It is now believed that Gen. Price will
! cross the Osage river and join Gen. Slack,
I when a general engagement will ensue. The
\ towns of Papinsville and Butler, on the Osage
river, in Bates county, were burned by Fed
eral troops from Kansas on the 12th inst. It
is stated that these places were the resort of
companies of the Confederates.
From Kentucky, under date of 17th De
cember, we have news of the advance of
Gen. ShoepfTs brigade, numbering some
seven thousand men and two batteries,
against Zollicoffer, who was entrenching him
self on the Cumberland river. It is supposed
that a battle between tbem has already taken
place.
The advices from Port Royal are to the
19th of tbe month. The principal islands at
the mouth of the bay are occupied by the
brigade of Gen. Stevens. The expedition
which has been organising for some time
past under Gen. Viele, has been abandoned.
Rather over one thousand bales of cotton
, bave been secured.
The Ashepw river has been aacen Jed by
I a flotilla of gunboats, under Commander
( Drayton. He describes the plantations in tbe
vicinity of the river and its tributaries as
entirely deserted. Nearly all the negroes
have been taken into the interior, the cotton
S-'sstroyed, and the buildings burned.
We have various rumors from the South.
j hese reports say that Memphis, Term.,
lis being fortified ou a grand scale; one
fort has an armament of one hundred and
two guns. A pontoon bridge has been placed
across the river. Com. Hollins 4i turtle " ves
sel, it is reported, has hud an engagement
with the U. S. steamer Massachusetts and
was disabled. An insurrection among the
slaves of Mississippi is also reported. Those
latter rumors are n it believed.
By an arrival at New York, we have ad
vices from Port Royal to the 17th. On the
day before the vessel sailed, four hundred
Federal troops crossed over from Port Royal
Island to the main land, and encountered a
, force of Confederates, said to be fifteen hun
, dred strong, who fired a volley and then re
treated.
Charles Dickens declines being a candi
date for the British House of Commons.
GENERAL NEWS.
Since August last there have been, in
tbe U. S. army, 250 promotions and 650 ap
pointments, in addition to 60 brigadier gene
rals of volunteer brigades, the whole num
berof these being about 110. Among the
declinations is Jame« Shields, of California,
to be brigadier general. The appointments
as aids-de-camp to Major Gen. McClellan
number 32. Thirty-one officers have been
retired, uuder the law upon that subject.
The sum of $150,000 has been voted in tin
U. S. Congress to complete the defences of
Washington.
A distressing scene was witnessed in New
York on Wednesday. Some two hundred
poor women, said to be soldiers' wives, as
sembled, and after denouncing the city au
thorities for neglecting to provide for their
relief, marched down in a body to the City
Hall, stopping at the Fourth Avenue Relief
Office, to demand food and fuel. Arrived at
tbe City Hall, Mayor Wood came out and
spoke a few kind words, assuring them that
a bill for their relief was now in the hands
of the comptroller, and only awaited his sig
nature. The women next proceeded to visit
the comptroller, one of whose clerks inform
ed them that oo relief could be extended to
them before the first of January. Tbe crowd,
after expressing their disappointment, went
to the houses of some of the city aldermen.
One women called at the residence of Alder
man Frowert, with three children, and ap
plied for assistance, but oo the servant in
forming them that nothing could be done,
she ooolly went away, leaving the children
In tbe hall.
The Washington c irrespondent of the Bal
timore Sun says " slaves and slavery is now
ju»t an much rung in the halls.of Congress
as it was prior to the first act of secession.
There is good reason tor believing that from
deference to the feelings, interests and rights
of citizens of the border slave States, Mr.
Lincoln deprecates and condemns the recent
abolition moves iv Congress, but how is it
supposed that the representatives of such
States can cordially support the administra
tion when so many, if not a majority of Nor
thern uiembers exhaust the vocabulary of
harsh epithets in condemnation of an inati
j tution lor whose establishment the North is
j us much responsible as the South, and which
j cannot be destroyed upon current abolition
ideas, without upturning society itself."
Gen. Jacksou, it is said, has been promo
ted to the command of the entire valley of
Virginia, and that he has five regiments on
the neck, opposite Williamsport, with fifteen
guns.
The Washington Republican says:—"The
imbroglio over the affair of Mason and Sli
dell, is only a symptom of a disease, not tbe
disease itself. The hostility of the British
Government existed before their capture,
and would have been manifested, if that
event had not happened.
Information from the Upper Potomac
states that Gen. Banks, instead of one, sent
to Williamsport, five regiments, and subse
quently more. The "artillery duel" at the
Point of Rt.cks lasted but a short time, aad
but few were killed or wounded.
Contributions for the fcufferers by the late
great fire at Charleston are coming in from
all the Southern States.
Gen. Halleck, in Missouri, is levying con
tributions for the benefit of the refugee
Union man, upon the Secessionists.
The amphitheatre, at the lair grounds, in
Louisville, Ky., was burned down, on Thurs
day. A regiment was encamped there, and
in the excitement a lieutenant wus> aucident
ly killed by a soldier.
The hog trade in Cincinnati is much de
pressed, by tbe news from England, and pri
ces are coming down.
Proof is said to bave been obtained of the
forgery of the will of the late Senator Brod
erick, of California, by persons in Nhw
York.
Gen. McCall in his official despatches,
praises the conduct of his troops at the tight
at Dranesville on Friday. The brigade of
Federal troops engaged has returned to
Langley.
The resolution to inquire whether Geo.
Phelps' proclamation is approved by the Ad
ministration, has been laid on the table in
the U. S. Senate. Mr. Sumner, although
he said it was "silly," thought it was do
worse than Gen. Sherman's.
The N. Y. T-ibune makes, editorially, the
proposition that Capt. Wilkes should put
Messrs. Mason and Slidell on b anl of the
Trent, and then capture the vessel and the
Commissioners with all on board, and bring
them into port for adjudication.
Rev. Mr Mines, Chaplain of a Maine re
giment, captured at Bull Run, has been ex
changed for Rev. Mr. North, Chaplain in a
Virginia regiment, captured at Harper's
Ferry.
The U. S. Steamer Reliance ran the block
ade of the Potomac on the evening of the
18th. She was fired upon by all the batte
ries as she went on—with what result is not
yet known.
A resolution was unanimously passed by
the U. S. House of Representatives yester
day, thanking Col. Mulligan, bis officers
and men, for their defence of Lexington.
California editors apprehend considerable
difficulty in working the telegraph to the
Eastern States in tbe winter months. One
paper says: "Thus far the storms in the
mountains have seriously retarded commu.
nication with the East."
A dreadful fire broke out December 2d, at
the Napoleon docks, Antwerp. The Belgian
sugar refinery and the St. Felix bonding
warehouses were burned down. The esti
mated loss is 5,000,000 francs.
The expected new evidence against Chas.
W. Jefferds, on trial in New York for the
murder of John W. Mathews, was yesterday
developed. Mr. W. Walton, th? brother ot
John Walton, who was shot by the same
man who a few minutes afterward shot Ma
thews, testified that a few weeks ago Jefferds
confessed the murder to him in all its de
tails, so far as it regarded Walton.
The New York Post publishes editorially
an article on the proposition of the Mary
laud Legislature, to raise by loan tbe State's
quota of the direct tax. The Post regards
this mode of procedure as likely to produce
mischievous effects by bringing individual
States into the money market in competition
with the government.
The Northern papers contain a story
about the taking away from the President's
House, in Washington, by Mr. Buchanan, of
certain pictures presented by tbe Prince of
Wales. The story is not likely.
Brig. Gen. Stone's appointment is not yet
confirmed; and Massachusetts and Pennsyl
vania Senators declare that it shall not be
until after full understanding of the respon
sibility for the Ball's Bluff defeat.
A U. S. government steamer went ashore
at Barnegat on the 18tb.
The Oriental Queen from New York, for
Queenstown, loaded with grain, capsized off
Nantucket on the 16th. Captain and crew
saved.
Garibaldi has appeared in Turin, and en
tered the Chamber of Deputies when the
Horn.. n and Neapolitan questions were un
der debate.
Tbe trial of Charles M. Jefferds. in New
I York, indicted for tbe murder of John W.
I Mathews, who was shot on the eight uf the
j 30th of June, iB6O, io Irvttig place, was
commenced yesterday.
The English journals are doing their ut
| most to deter tbe Irish population from eini
' grating to tbe United States.
A committee has been appointed in the
; Maryland Senate "to urge upon the U. S.
I government a plan to prevent the escape of
The Queen's messenger did not return in
i the Africa, but despatches were sent out
j both by the U. S. Government aud tbe Bri
tish Minister.
DIED.
Ou Friday evening, the 20th inst., «F.ORG|f-
ANNA A. WATERS, eldo.t daughter of Thoma*
A. Waters. ,£_©** Tha friend* of the family i»r»
respectfully invited to attend the funeral co-mor
row (Sunday) afternoon, at 2o'clock,from therea
| idence of her father, corner of King and Patrick
streets, without further invitation. [Baltimore,
Washington and (ieorgetowa papers please copy.