then opened with telling effect, and our vessels | ketry. Among the wounded was Midshipman put to their utmost speed. Jackson, who was taken on board the Hetzel, where he received every possible care and attention. He survived but a few hours, and was buried with all the honors due his rank. The Delaware boarded and hauled down the rebel flag of the Fanny, which had been deserted and set on fire." "The enemy seemed to become demoralized at this unexpected and determined movement. The Black Warrior was set on fire and destroyed by her officers and crew. The fort was abandoned as the head of our column passed it. A dash was then made at the enemy drawn up inside. The Perry, Lieuten- In this impetuous assault but little attention ant Commanding Flusser, took the flag-ship was paid to the battery or to the armed schoonSea Bird in gallant style, running her down er as our little fleet, regardless of the storm of and sinking her, making prisoners of her offi- shell and grape, rushed at its highest speed cers and crew. The Underwriter made to cut through the channel and dashed into the midst off the retreat of the Beaufort. The Ceres ran of the panic-stricken rebel gun-boats. A handahead and took possession of the Ellis. Some to-hand fight ensued with revolvers, bayonets, of the crew of the Ellis, in making their escape and sabres. Many of the rebels, in their aton shore, were killed and wounded by our mus- I tempt to escape, leaped into the water, and not HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT. a few were drowned. The struggle was short, desperate, and decisive. Scarcely fifteen minutes elapsed after our fleet plunged into the midst of the foe ere the victory was no longer contested. The Black Warrior was abandoned and in flames. The terror-stricken garrison were fleeing precipitately from the fort. Four rebel ships were burned, one captured, and two, escaping from the vortex of destruction, ran frantically up the river. In this spirited action but two were killed, and about a dozen wounded on board the Union fleet. The rebel loss could not be ascertained. The ram principle was on this occasion very efficiently brought into operation. The Commodore Perry plunged into the Sea Bird, nearly cutting her in two. The Ceres ran down the rebel steamer Ellis and boarded her. The Underwriter, in the same style, captured the Forrest; and thus did the Delaware assail and seize the Fanny. There was the most intense eagerness on board every Union steamer to get as quickly as possible, and as near as possible, in contact with the foe. The two boats which escaped, the Raleigh and Beaufort, ran up the river, and entered the canal which leads to Norfolk. The rebels who escaped from the gun-boats fled to the little village called Elizabeth City, and immediately commenced firing the principal buildings. Most of the population had deserted their homes under the delusion that it was the object of the expedition to burn the place, and to inflict every species of wanton injury upon the inhabitants. Commander Rowan immediately ran three or four of his steamers alongside of the wharves. As he approached he saw a battery of field - artillery rapidly retreating down one of the streets. Some of his men landed and arrested Lieutenant Scroggs, an artillery officer of the Wise Legion, who was compelling the inhabitants to apply the torch to their dwellings. Several were already in flames. But Commander Rowan, as soon as he witnessed the Vandalism of the foe, conscious that they would impute the crime to him, summoned all back to the fleet. "I immediately," said he, "ordered all our people on board their respective ships, and that no visitors between shore and ships should be permitted. Some of the defenseless inhabitants, men and women, came to the wharf to implore me to save their houses and property from destruction. But I refused to allow a man to move, knowing that if I acceded to their request we would be charged with Vandalism as incendiaries." them the Court-house, were destroyed. The negroes, at all times and every where, patriotic, guided by almost a divine instinct which enabled them to see that to which the poor whites were blind, flocked in rejoicing crowds to the landing-place, with exuberance of exultation which even the presence of their sullen masters could not restrain. They came with their baskets loaded with poultry, eggs, and other luxuries, and received in payment higher prices than they asked. Thus terminated one of the most brilliant, though one of the shortest, naval engagements which had thus far occurred during the war. At forty-five minutes after 9 o'clock not a rebel flag could be seen floating any where. At six minutes past 9 we opened our fire upon the gun-boats and the battery. At twenty-five minutes past 9 the schooner struck her colors, and almost at the same moment the rebel garrison fled from the fort, waving a flag in signal to the gun-boats to run on shore and save themselves as they could. At forty-five minutes past 9 the work was done, and the Delaware was moored at the wharf of Elizabeth City. Having effected the destruction of the munitions of war and other governmental stores at Elizabeth City the fleet was withdrawn to Cobb's Point. Three days were then devoted to the destruction of all the military works and the enginery with which the rebels could avail themselves in their infamous assault against their country's flag. On Tuesday, February 11, Commander Murray,* with four steamers, was sent to Edenton. This was a small town, of about sixteen hundred inhabitants, of some military importance from its situation at the head of Edenton Bay and at the mouth of the Chowan River. The expedition arrived at the mouth of the harbor about half past eight in the morning of Wednesday, the 12th. Cautiously they entered, through the intricate harbor, the Lockwood in the advance. No resistance was offered. At half past ten they were in possession of the town. A flying regiment of artillery took to their wings without firing a shot. The inhabitants also fled in terror, as they had been informed by their base deceivers that the population of Elizabeth City had been surrendered to indiscriminate massacre. These foolish fears were, however, soon quieted. A few cannon were destroyed, a considerable quantity of provisions captured, and after remaining about two hours, during which time they were visited by the authorities and others, many of whom professed sentiments of loyalty, they returned to the fleet. Thus the spacious waters of Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds were swept of the flag of the rebellion, Commander Rowan assured the inhabitants that he came not to injure their beautiful village, but to give them protection. Thus encouraged, as the terrified yet maddened rebel troops fled, they ceased to apply the torch, and the flames were gradually extinguished. Sev- by the Secretary of the Navy, says, "Lieut. Com. Mur"1 ray. But in the Report published in the Reb. Record • Commander S. C. Rowan, in his Report, as published eral of the best buildings, however, and among his name is signed Maury. TH THE PRINCE OF KUNG. THE PRINCE OF KUNG. HIS Prince, son of the Emperor Taukwang, brother to the Emperor Hein-fung, uncle and guardian to the present Emperor, and for more than three years Regent of the Empire, whose likeness I herewith inclose, fills a conspicuous place in the history of his country. Emerging from the obscurity of the Court, in 1860, to save the capital and the throne by prudent negotiation at a time when the Emperor was flying from his burning palaces, and when the victorious Allies were in possession of the gates of Peking, he has continued up to the present time the central figure in the foreign relations of China. He is, in fact, the first and only prince of the blood who ever condescended to treat in person with the feared and hated foreigner. The present is not an inopportune time for noticing the career and character of this distinguished individual, as by one of those sudden revolutions, less frequent in Peking than in other Oriental courts, he has lately fallen from his high position. I have seen him on two occasions- once when our Minister, Mr. Burlingame, went to the Foreign Yamen to take leave of his Highness, and again, a few days later, when the prince paid Mr. Burlingame a farewell visit at the United States Legation. The Foreign Yamen is not a very princely looking establishment. A cluster of weatherbeaten buildings, one story in height, floored with brick, and glazed with paper, exhibiting in every part a sad spectacle of dust and decay, while in the front court a huge tree, completely dead, a suggestive symbol, stretched its leafless branches over the entrance; it looked more akin to the buildings in which the king of Ashantee holds his grand palaver than to the stately edifices of our Western governments. Since then the mandarins have been trying how far an application of paint can bring back its departed glory; but, alas! no artifice can avail to restore sap to the withered tree, and a few days ago the axe was applied to its root in obedience to the mandate-"Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?"-Dii vertant omen funeste! It can not be said that Prince Kung is a very princely-looking personage. Though of Tartar blood unmixed, his physiognomy is Chinese of the Chinese. With an eye of most celestial obliquity, and a nose, whose elevation scarcely interferes with the affectionate glances which one organ might be supposed to cast at its image reflected in the other, his features are a type of his race. They are not, however, altogether disagreeable as an index of the inner Though expressive of indolence, they man. also bespeak a prevalent good-nature; and and two Consuls governed Rome with great though in repose, they settle into a heaviness success; but it remains to be seen whether which suggests the predominance of a sensual two women, educated after the Chinese fashelement; they are lit up with flashes of intelli-ion-i. e., uneducated-can succeed in mangence when he begins to speak. His utterance aging the reins of this great Government. is extremely rapid and evinces acuteness rather than depth. The good sense which makes him willing to be led rather than a capacity to direct, constitutes his chief merit, and well were it for China if he could be restored to his lost dignity, and retain it until his imperial nephew attains his full majority. That, however, can not be, for though he might be reinvested with the title of Regent, his influence is gone beyond recovery. A few words will suffice to explain the nature of the game which has lately occasioned so much shuffling among the great cards in the court, and in which the Prince has been a loser. The two empresses-one of them the chief wife of his late Majesty, and the other a concubine, who became mother to his only child, now ten years of age-were nominally at the head of the Government, with co-ordinate authority. The real power, however, was in the hands of Prince Kung, who bore the title of E-chengwang, Prince-counselor. | When the Prince came to the Legation to return Mr. Burlingame's farewell visit questions of policy had all been discussed, details of business settled, and nothing remained for his Highness to do but to say his novissima verba, and have his likeness taken, as a contribution toward the embellishment of a room in our Department of State. The chief mandarins of his suite, some of whom are heads of departments in the Government, were also taken; and as the process was tedious, the Prince amused himself by looking at picture-books. One of the prints seemed to strike his fancy. It represented two girls standing in a boat and waving a farewell to their friends on shore, while they sung "Our bark is on the azure main, Are all our dreams of hope in vain? The sentiment being explained to him he In process of time this state of things seems thought it appropriate to the occasion, and orto have become distasteful to the imperial la- dered Tung-ta-jin, Vice-President of one of the dies, who naturally desired to be something Boards, a fine-looking old man, and a scholar more than maternal guardians of his young of the highest rank, to turn it into Chinese Majesty. Displeased, too, with what they chose verse. This was so promptly and successfully to regard as the arrogant bearing of Prince done that the Prince selected another, and orKung, they resolved to attempt his overthrow.dered Pau-yuen, a Manchu of still higher rank, Willing instruments were not wanting. An indictment was trumped up, charging the Prince with malversation in office and disrespect toward his Majesty; and an edict fulminated in the name of the boy emperor, without waiting for a formal trial, stripping the Prince of all his honors excepting his hereditary princedom. Had Prince Kung attempted resistance he must have succeeded in establishing himself more firmly in power, or, failing in that, have drawn down utter destruction on his own head. The one he seems never to have sought, and the other he dreaded too much to provoke it. to undertake the task of versification. We expected the old statesman to decline or make a failure; but he did neither. In almost as short a time as I occupy in relating the circumstance Pau produced a neat little ode, written currente calamo, with flowing caligraphy and faultless metre; and without being defaced by a single erasure. We were interested in this poetical contest, not only as a pleasant episode in the midst of dry discussions, or still drier formalities, but as a specimen of the national culture. The competitors were not two shepherds singing rude distiches, with another shepherd for their umpire, but men who had won their high positions by the competition of the pen. All unprepared for such a crisis, which is the best proof that he never thought of encroaching on the prerogatives of the crown, he bent like a reed before the storm, prostrated himself at the foot of the throne, and confessed his faults with flowing tears. The two ladies knew they had nothing more to fear from him; and after thrusting him into the very dust beneath their slippers they have raised him up again, restoring one by one all his offices and titles, except that of E-cheng-wang, Princecounselor-equivalent to regent or vice-regent. The regency is now in their hands, in fact as well as in name, and Kung-wang an instrument to effect their purposes, instead of their being, as they seemed, idle pieces of court pageantry,onstrations of personal regard. called into the fore-ground at the beck of the Prince. In theory the door to civil honors and emoluments is only opened to successful scholarship; and the system, though no longer administered in its original purity, still has the effect of drawing able' and accomplished men into the public service. In this respect our own Government might be the better for taking a leaf from the experience of China. On taking leave the mandarins assured Mr. Burlingame that, though the Chinese Government treats all foreign ministers with respect, they had never given any one such signal dem Nor was this altogether the language of adulation. By his affable manners, and the cordial Two kings ruled Sparta with great harmony, interest which he always manifested in their welfare, Mr. Burlingame succeeded in concilia- | have always been very rich, having been the ting the good-will of the mandarins in an un- only heir to the fortune of my father. At the age common degree. In the darkest days of our of twenty-one I had all the money I could wish national conflict, and without the support of a for. I had a house of my own, with servants single man-of-war, he caused our flag to be re-ready to gratify every whim, however extravaspected, and, in connection with Sir F. Bruce, gant. But an idle life would not suit me, so I he initiated a policy which, if acted on, will re-established myself in business, more for the emmove the old jealousies of the Treaty Powers, ployment than the profits which might come and combine their influence in the laudable en- from it. terprise of fostering a new civilization in this ancient empire. May our next minister be as worthy a representative of the spirit and institutions of his country! PEKING, June 1, 1865. WM. H. MARTIN. ELDERTHORPE'S IDEA. NSANE people sometimes have very odd no One morning I awoke rather late, and what was my surprise to hear the servants in the kitchen talking about me. "I wonder," says Betty, the cook, "if master is awake yet. Here's the omelet and steak all getting cold. I never saw such a sleepyhead as he is." "Yes, just like him," chimed in Susan, the chambermaid; "here it is nearly ten o'clock, and he not out of the room yet, which I must INSANE some wits all manner of de- clear up if it takes till midnight." ranged. cases, and have had a chance to see many things which surprised me wonderfully. There is such cunning and penetration in many of them that you can scarcely believe but that their minds are sound. Some will hold long conversations with you as intelligently on difficult topics as a great many individuals who profess to be very learned, and even more so. In one of the asylums especially, not far from this city, I have spent considerable time, frequently visiting it to study the characters of the different patients in pursuance of their separate whims. One in particular I became interested in. He was a fine looking man, with a high, noble forehead, and raven hair. He was apparently in the prime of life, tall and straight. There was one thing I noticed about him strange; he was continually walking up and down with his hands behind him, stopping suddenly now and then, and bending his head as if listening very attentively. One morning I went in the public room, where he happened to be. He walked up to me and took my arm. "Do you know," said he, in a whisper, at the same time drawing me confidently aside, "the power that I have over other men?" "No, Mr. Elderthorpe," replied I, wishing to | draw him out, "What is it?" "Let us seat ourselves here and I will tell you," said he. "You are the very first person whom I have honored with my confidence on this subject, for I consider you an honorable man, incapable of betraying what I am going to tell you. Is this so?" I promised to keep it an eternal secret. "Well, then," continued he, "I have the power of hearing any thing a person says of me, no matter where he is; that is, if I have known the person before. Do you doubt it?" "It is very strange, Mr. Elderthorpe," said I, "but I can not disbelieve your word." "Listen!" exclaimed he, "and I will tell you how I first became aware of it." "A queer Dick master is, sure enough," . struck up Thomas, the coachman. "Some days he will order the carriage to meet him at a certain place, and then come home hours after and want to know where the deuce I am." I rubbed my eyes in astonishment at finding myself awake and hearing this conversation. I drew the curtains of my bed aside and looked out; the sun was shining brightly through the window, not leaving a doubt but that it was broad daylight. What could it mean? They could not possibly have been so bold as to come outside of my room door and talk in that manner. I lay very quiet and listened with all my ears; but hearing nothing more I rang for Thomas, who acted as my valet de chambre in the sickness of François. "Come, come, Thomas," cried I, as he entered: "it must be very late. Bring me my stockings and dressing-gown instantly!" “All right, Sir!” said he; "nothing gives me so much pleasure as to wait upon your Honor." "I suppose my breakfast is cold waiting for me, is it not ?" "Oh no, Sir. I heard the cook say as how she just took it from the fire, and that it was as warm as toast." "Thomas, I am a queer Dick sometimes, am I not?" "Never so to me, Sir." "What, not when I order the coach to meet me at a certain place, and then come back, hours after, and want to know where the deuce you are ?" Thomas opened his eyes in astonishment. He stopped brushing my coat and stared at me half frightened. "What's the matter with you?" "I believe your Honor is a witch, sure enough, or else have the ears of scandal." "Oh, never mind what I am," said I; "I have the means of knowing what you are about." I may as well say that I was as much surprised as he was at all this, although I became all the more convinced of my newly-acquired I suppose you know, he continued, that I powers, which I had so often longed for, but |