17 AUGUST 1861, Page 3

lurnira.—Our intelligence from America reaches to the 3rd instant. 'The

accounts of Southern movements are, as usual, very obscure and contradictory, but it appears certain that General Beauregard has occupied and is fortifying Fairfax, 14 miles from Washington, and intends to remain on the defensive. The news of the victory has greatly elated the South, and has strengthened its cause in Missouri and Kentucky.

On the Northern side, General Scott is exerting himself to the utmost to restore order. The active command has beep best owed on General M'Clellan, a West Point officer, who succeeded in Western Virginia, and Ile is gradually, by the help of dragoons and marines, reducing his men to order. Congress has passed a law prohibiting the sale of liquor in the district of Columbia, and General M'Clellan has strictly prohibited officers from loun.,„sing about hotels. He has ordered that the whole force shall be drilled once a week to the sound of the trumpet, and himself attends to all details of commis- sariat and clothing. The men are recovering their confidence fast. Congress has passed another tariff law, which levies a duty of four cents per pound on coffee, three cents on cocoa, two cents on sugar, two cents on chicory, two cents on ground chicory, fifteen cents on tea, and one dollar and twenty-five cents per gallon on brandy. On ether liquors and wines ten cents per gallon ad valorem is added, and on imported and distilled liquors fifty cents. Ten per cent. additional duty is levied on silk goods. A tax of three per cent. on incomes of eight hundred dollars and upwards is levied; and five per cent. is derived from persons residing abroad who draw money from their property in the United States. The Senate also has passed a bill for confiscating the property of all rebels, including slaves, but rejected an amendment requiring Government to dis- charge such slaves. Reports of slave insurrections are very rife in New York, but they seem to be only reports, and, on the other side, there are rumours of a great and growing impatience of the excessive expenditure of the Government, which has now risen to 200,0001. a day.