From Washington

Washington,1 Aug 31. Tho official armouiicernent is made tliat notwitlistanding the mimerous vesels addeá to ttie navy witbin the past two years, tho work of coustruction ís ! srilltogoon. The Navy Departmept has just decidcd to bnild" anotber floet of íi-ou ciad véasela. They will be looier and mora formidable than any nOW in the servieo of tbís ör any other country, heilig i 11 í'act, períect copies of íhe i groat Eriossoj) ships, l'uritíin and Dicta tor, noiv builoing ili New York. 'I lie officisi oriran tliis morning says I ihat il is not probable tliat goveTimient I will at an éarly d;iy procluim to tlie CDiintry what policy it utends to pursue with feapect to t!io occupation of Mexico by tho íirmy of Franco, and tlie overthrow of its republiüan form of govcrnment by tlie snnie instrumentality. üur donicstie liíairs are in tliat condition tliat the extremest caution arid letiecnee beOcmes the uty of the administration I a iiUL'stion of such gravity and ikurfá ín involved, The folloving is a cnrrect copy of Prt'ffldetit Lincfiln's letter to Gen. Grant j a short ahstraet of whieh has beeu i lished iu sume western pupers: "Hxixttivk Mansión-, ) Wasiusoton, July 13 1868, ■'Major General Gi-ant : "My Duaií Ge.fkal- I do not re meuiber thatyou ahd I ever niet pcrsonally. I write tliis uow as a grátéfífl ac ackoDWlfedgèittènt for tlie aímest ma ble service you have done tho coun!ry. 1 #isíi 60 Baj a word further : When you -first i-íüiohod the vieiniíy of Vicks D.urg, I tüóiight you slioulcl 'do what you íinally did, march (he troops acrosa íhu iiuck, rumbe batter es with !he transporta, and (hus go below, and I rieveí hnd ány f ,lh exrept a gcuerA ho] -, tliat yon kuew better than I that the Yttzoo Pasa oxpcdition and the lakö could íueoped: When you aot beiow and tsok Por) Gibsnn, Grand Üulf and vicinity, I tlinuht you ghould go down the ivrr and j-in Gen. Banks, and wlu-n you turued nortlnvard east of the !3i Bkck, í fearód t was a niistukp. [ now wisll to maké the personal acknowk-d-ement tbat you were right and I was wrong. '■Yoiirs, very tmly, (Sigi-.í'O Á. LINCOLN." The correspondent of the Richmond Sentineï, after expressing Lis pleasuros tlüit public speakers were v;iking up to the íüiporiaiice of addre.sí!ig the peonle in regard to n.itional aflairs, and statiug that even their most brilliaut vietoriel have not elicited any.pnbiie deinonsirations, proceeds ia the following signifieniit huiguage; "Had we hada different pohcy, had our liundreds of popular speakers now in the army spent a portiou of their time in addressing the people froui the stump t'uroughout ihe Confederacy, our anny would be stronger today hy tens of thousauds, and traitors would hestill " The ÍSentinH has the following from the Charleston Courier : '-The uúention of houst-keepers and Qttwoea generally is directed to the notice rcquiriug that a constant supply oñ water Ie kept on hand to extinguish the euemy's incendiary shells explodhii; u the city." "We learn au order is to be issued for all persons possessing eotton to have it fon. o ved promptly from the liiuits of the city, as its piessoce durmg the bombardnient from the enoniy's shella is considered daugerous." Washington, Sept.-l. ïhe Repullican has a special dispatch dated Stevenson Ala., P. M., Aug 31, 1803 Kosécrans' army is nearly all across tho Temiessoe liiver, and CJiattanooga is well invested. A heavy cavalry and artillery forcé has gone in tho direction of Dalton Jmiction, in Georgia, on the Western and Atlantic Raih-oad. If thia road should be eut at this point, and it undoubtedly is before this time. it would greatly faeiliiate lloseerans' opera' ons by the fact that it destroys Brsgg's eiitiro southorn communicaiion, and leaves him nothing except the Tenuesseo and Gíéorgía Eailrpad to Kingston and Kno-ville in 'J'ennossee, which will probabiy be in the possession of liurnside before tliis ronches you. It was ri'pnrted ye.-terday that a portion of Bragg's forees were making demonstratioiiá for a movetnent northiT.stward, toward Kingston, to reinfurce est, and probably wilh the purposa of ituicking Burmtde and saving Knoxville from fulling iuto his hands. If this turus out to be true, of course llosecrans will take advantage of it and his work before Chattanooca will be raueh easier. He is very active, being in the saddle Biglit and day. Thu liiolunoïid Ènquirer of the 2Sth ntiinates that the redaliation tbreatened by Beüoragwrd f Gilmore shells Charlesoii, will be to remove the Federal i nors fi-oni the Libby Prison and Belle .Ie, to be distributed at varioua points n tlie city of Charleston, and then infarto Gilmore that, Charleston invites his bhells. A Charleston correspondent of the ; Augusta, Ga, Cliroaiï!( writès that Purt k':ianer eaiinnt be appmached by niiniig. ! lic gayg tlu islaad s all Band on the 'aei', snd a water is reaohed at, a depth if from four to six teet, miñing is there 'ore out of the queslion, unless the work ' a ai-olipii by brick or wood. To do this, i f at all practicable would require from ! -ix !o tvvelvc nionths and tli-.'ii result in aüure, because ail approuehes would end or open in the most surroundiiiír i er, wherc iliere is tVom six to eight féét of water. Let peoplt be at ease cm tliat eore