The surrender of Vicksburg on the 4th July was speedily
followed,—and apparently before the news of that event had reached the lower Mississippi,—by the sup-ender of Port Hudson, on the 8th July, to General _13anks,—the garrison numbering only about 7,000 men. The Mississippi is, therefore, now entirely in the bands of the North, and the Times correspondent at Richmond, who said a few weeks ago that "the day would never come" when the sur- render of Vicksburg would rejoice the hearts of the North, will have the mortification of reading its surrender probably in the same week in which he receives his rather hasty pro-. phecy in print. It is, however, far from likely that the trade of the Mississippi can be at all freely resumed, since the Con- federates, without a fort, can at many points inflict severe loss even with rifles on merchantmen sailing down the Mis- sissippi, and a few cannon brought down to the bank at dif- ferent points would be quite enough to scare ordinary skippers. The great advantage of these surrenders to the Fede- rale will be the liberation of Grant's large and Banks's small army for the campaign in Louisiana and Mississippi.
