Local and Personal Cyrus Elder, Esq., has become assistant Editor of the Johnstown TRIBUNE. He is a chaste and vigorous writer and will no doubt do good service toward affording the people of the county a proper supply of sound orthodox Union pabulum. Success. A meeting of the Ebensburg Union League will be held in the Court House this (Wednesday) evening at lamp lighting. Eminent speakers will be present and address the meeting. Johnstown Soldiers Home Cos. A and B, 133d Pa. Vols., arrived at Johnstown on Friday and Co. K., 136th, on Monday following. We presume they met with a cordial reception. The Cambria county nine months men have all now reached their homes. Court The attendance at Court this week is unusually large and the indications are that a large amount of business will be transacted. We will give an abstract of the most important cases in our next issue. Late War News No movement of Gen. Hooker’s army has yet taken place. Late news seem to indicate that General Lee is making a movement northward and from various reasons it is inferred that he contemplates threatening Ohio with invasion, although as yet this cannot be definitely determined. Large columns of the enemy were traced on Friday by the lines of dust in the rear of their river front moving in the direction of Kelly’s Ford and Culpepper. The rebel infantry guard at Bank’s and United States fords has been considerably increased within the past day or two which is construed in some quarters as a ruse to cover the movement of a raid by Stuart’s cavalry via Culpepper and Rappahannock Station. In Washington it was believed that Hooker’s line was soon to be attacked. Government on Southern Deserters and Refugees The Government has begun to put in force a new rule by which effectually to prevent pretended deserters and refugees from the Rebel army from returning South with information for the enemy which they have acquired while wearing the mask of suffering loyalty and enjoying the freedom of parole. It has been determined that all who call themselves deserters shall be sent, as soon as they arrive within our lines, to Philadelphia, where the oath of allegiance will be administered to them, and an additional oath by which they bind themselves not to go further South than Philadelphia, under the penalty of being treated as spies. Forty were sent yesterday to Philadelphia and thirty more go tomorrow. Vicksburg The War Department has dispatches from Gen. Grant as late as Monday last. They represent the siege as progressing satisfactorily and that Gen. Grant was abundantly able to keep up his investment of the town and repel any attack upon the rear of his army. We have some unofficial reports from the West, said to have been brought by a boat which left Vicksburg on Monday. These reports are to this effect: “On Friday the Union troops were repulsed. Gen. Grant, however, had captured every rebel redoubt. At once place it was necessary, owing to the steepness of the hill, to scale it with ladders. Gen. Hovey led the assault. The Rebels rolled their shells down the hill at the Unionists, which exploded among them, making fearful havoc. The Union losses are said to be very heavy.” This we presume refers to Friday’s fighting. Another dispatch, dated Saturday, say: “There has been no fighting today. The troops are resting from yesterday’s assault. Our repulse was complete in all parts of the line. No discouragement seed be entertained of our final success. We are entrenching ourselves and building rifle pits. Cavalry have been sent out towards Canton to ascertain the whereabouts of Gen. Johnston’s forces. Our loss yesterday was not far from 1,000.” About 4,500 rebel prisoners taken by Gen. Grant at Memphis yesterday; also the first boat-load of wounded. The facts of the situation at Vicksburg are thus summed up by high authority. Gen. Grant has step by step driven the Rebels into their interior entrenchments, turning the others against them. They, however, have troops to relieve each other as often as may be desired in defending that line of their works. But he is continuing without serious, if any, molestation from Johnston so far to assail successfully but gradually, in order to take as much care as he should take of the lives of this troops engaged in the desperate fighting of such a siege. The Prospect of Rebel Invasion For the past two or three weeks there have been various significant intimations that the rebel General Lee seriously contemplates a repetition of his former disastrous attempt to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania. The Richmond papers have not only advocated such a movement, but one of them has hinted that necessary preparations are now being made. We do not regard it as at all improbable. It is known that nearly all the rebel troops that could be spared from North and South Carolina have lately been hurried to Virginia and the army of General Lee is doubtless stronger by fifty thousand men than it was in the recent battles. It is known that it is General Lee’s invariable plan, previous to making any important movements, thoroughly to reconnoiter the country with his cavalry; and the late raid of Imboden would seem to have been in the nature of a reconnaissance. These are the only positive facts at present in our possession from which the probability of an invasion may be inferred; but there are quite a number of reasons why the rebels should desire to make such a movement. The army under Lee cannot maintain its present position of defense and remain inactive through the weary summer months; nothing could be more destructive to the morale of the rebel troops, or more disheartening in its influence upon Southern people. The belief that the Army of the Potomac was badly crippled in the recent battles has been sedulously inculcated by the newspaper press of the South, and the impression is doubtless general that it would be powerless to oppose a rebel advance. The enemy are well aware that in some few of the interior counties of this State, a latent sentiment of disloyalty exists which seeks no better pretext for asserting itself than a favorable opportunity. They see that unless the theatre of war is transferred at once to the old battle ground of Manassas or still farther north, another conflict must decide the downfall of the capital. Invasion, though it should yield them no material advantages, might be attended with serious results to us, and would give their cause an added prestige abroad. The mere fact that it had been attempted would inspire the Southern people, temporarily, and infuse new energy into their arms. The army of General Lee is now so strong that probably from fifty to seventy-five or even one hundred thousand men could be detached for the purpose of carrying out the scheme, without abandoning the position of Fredericksburg or leaving Richmond dangerously exposed. Such being the situation, it is highly probable that a second invasion of the free States will be attempted. The duty of the authorities is plain. Their responsibilities are weighty; and both, we rejoice to see, have been accepted in their fullest sense. The telegraph has already informed us that a council of war has been held to consider the subject and that General Hooker is not disposed to underrate its importance. We have likewise been told that Governor Curtin and Major General Schenck have been in consultation with the authorities at Washington with the view of providing for the defense of the State. Timely precautions may avert the threatened danger. When we were menaced in the same way eight months ago, we made it a subject of merriment. We have grown wise in these months; we have learned that we do not avoid an evil because we shut our eyes to it; and if we would combat it successfully, we must stare it full in the face. This is what the authorities now seem to be doing and therefore we entertain but little apprehension for the future. The Riot in Harrisburg The riot which broke out in Harrisburg on Monday evening between the soldiers from Camp Curtin and the negroes of the “Bull Run” quarter, renewed some of its violence on Tuesday night. The riot grew originally from a quarrel between a colored liquor dealer and some soldiers whom he alleged refused to pay him after drinking though the soldiers assert the contrary. A collision occurred and the negro had some of the party arrested. The news reached Camp Curtin and soon a whole regiment appeared who commenced a savage attack upon the residence of the liquor dealer, Toop. An exasperated negro says a correspondent of the INQUIRER, firing at the soldiers from a concealed place, shot one of them, a member of the 136th Regiment through the hand. In returning the fire, the soldier by accident hit a comrade of the 134th, the ball passing through his left side, inflicting a painful though not dangerous wound. The scene then became wild and tumultuous. Still more infuriated, the soldiers proceeded to the centre of the negro quarters and with yells and shouts battered the windows and gutted houses for squares. On Tuesday evening says the Harrisburg TELEGRAPH disturbances recommenced by an unearthly shrieking and screaming in the locality known as “Bull Run,” formerly called “Judystown,” at the lower end of Third street. The soldiers had commenced an attack on the dwellings occupied by the colored people in this vicinity and made sad havoc while their sport lasted, compelling the inmates of the houses to fly to another locality, and breaking the windows, doors and furniture in a reckless and dastardly manner. Their triumph was exceedingly short lived after the police heard of the disturbance and their early arrival on the ground, slackened the operations of the mob and compelled them to retreat to the alleys in the vicinity, by which all of them, except one, effected their escape. Nine shots were fired at the fugitives without effect, causing them to retreat and scatter in every direction. Barney Campbell conveyed his prisoner to the Mayor’s office where he was committed to prison and immediately locked up. This victory by the police had the effect of quieting the lower section of the city for the night but only increased the depredations of the soldiers elsewhere, until a squad of fourteen were arrested on Ridge road by the provost guard, who were patrolling the vicinity. The prisoners had an escort assigned to them and were marched down to the jail in Walnut street in which the provost guard thought the prisoners would surely be confined. What was their surprise however when the Mayor appeared, addressed a few remarks to the prisoners and ordered their release. Some of the guard protested against this command, stating it was no encouragement to march through the streets until midnight after unlawful and roving depredators and then, when these same depredators are caught, to release them without even a hearing. This had no effect on the Mayor however; he persisted in this order, and the men were released. From that time until morning no further disturbance was noticed and today there is but one person under arrest to answer the call of justice for the numerous and devilish deeds done in this city the past two days by a lawless mob. ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEATHS Johnston Irvin Johnston Irvin, the man whose frightful injury in the Rolling Mill we noticed in our last issue, died of his injuries on Saturday night last, and was buried on Sunday afternoon, his remains being attended to the grave by a large procession of citizens. He lived eight days after going through what would seem sufficient to kill instantly any man. So says the Johnstown TRIBUNE. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail® goes where you go. On a PC, on the Web, on your phone. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/learnmore/versatility.aspx#mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_WL_HM_versatility_121208