New York (NY) Herald, "The Situation," April 13, 1865

         THE SITUATION.

   The town of Lynchburg, Virginia, which from the commencement of the war the rebels had been able to maintain possession of, and which only a week ago was considered of sufficient strength to withstand for some time, if Lee could get his army within its works, a siege of the entire Army of the Potomac, surrendered on Tuesday to a lieutenant colonel in command of a Union scouting party, and is now garrisoned by a brigade of national troops. 

   Corroboration of the report published in Tuesday's HERALD that Selma, Alabama, had been captured by General Wilson's national cavalry force is contained in a despatch from Major General Thomas. In addition it is stated that the rebel chiefs, Forrest and Roddy, and their entire commands, were made prisoners, and that Montgomery, Alabama, has also been taken by General Wilson. General Thomas says that, although he has received no confirmation direct from General Wilson, he is inclined to believe these reports. The capture of Selma is said to have taken place on the 2d inst. We give this morning sketches of the towns of Selma and Montgomery and of the reported captured rebel generals Forrest and Roddy.

   Advices from Mobile bay to the 4th inst., via New Orleans and Cairo, state that the national forces had succeeded in establishing a battery above Spanish Fort, thereby entirely cutting off communication between that rebel work and the city of Mobile. The seige [siege] was progressing favorably. 

   The President has issued a proclamation modifying the previous one of the 11th inst., closing Southern ports, by excepting of those named the port of Key West, Florida, which is declared open to foreign and domestic commerce. 

   OUR Newbern despatches of the 8th inst. state that the entire re-equipping of General Sherman's army had been completed, and that it was ready to enter upon a new campaign for the sudden extinguishment of General Johnston's military power if that rebel chieftain shall choose to offer any further resistance after hearing of Lee's surrender. The news of the capture of Richmond of course caused great rejoicing in Newbern. The country on the south side of the Neuse river between Newbern and Goldsboro is entirely cleared of armed rebels; but on the north side of that stream there are some prowling bands. One of these on the 7th inst. captured and burned a steamer and two barges, laden with supplies for Sherman's troops, on their way up the river. This is the only interruption which General Sherman's communications have suffered. General Mower has succeeded General Williams as commander of the Twentieth corps, in Sherman's army. 

   A small force of national cavalry left Norfolk on the 1st inst., and reconnoitered the country southward to within a short distance of Weldon, N.C.; tore up the track of the Roanoke and Seaboard Railroad for a considerable distance; defeated, after a severe fight, a party of six hundred cavalry by whom they were attacked; captured several prisoners and a considerable amount of cotton and tobacco; gained much valuable information, and returned safely to their starting point last Saturday night. 

   The people of Virginia, and of the city of Richmond in particular, appear to be at last fully satisfied with their experiment of a Southern confederacy, and are making preparations for the return of their State to the former loyal portion of the Union. We have already recorded conferences of leading Virginians with President Lincoln, General Weitzel and General Shepley, and the additional highly interesting despatches of our Richmond correspondents, which we publish this morning, show that certain influential citizens there are still engaged in endeavoring to secure the best terms they can. The feeling of the majority of the Richmondites against Jeff. Davis and other leaders of the rebel government is represented as having become very bitter. 

  At least five thousand of the white people of Richmond are now entirely dependent on the government and Northern charities for their daily supply of food, and but for these would starve. The government officers are now issuing twelve thousand rations a day to these destitute dupes of secession. The work of cleaning up the city and taking possession of mils, manufactories and rebel government and abandoned property of all kinds, and putting them in proper order, is being vigorously prosecuted, under the direction of General Shepley, and in the necessary labor which this involves, a large number of negroes are employed. The amount of property thus secured to the government is enormous. Much secreted property has been discovered in the dwellings of citizens, including, it is said, vast quantities of articles from friends in the North to administer to the wants of imprisoned Union soldiers. The remains of Colonel Dahlgren have been discovered near Richmond, exhumed and sent to Washington. 

   It was rumored in Richmond that General Lee arrived in the city on Monday night, and proceeded quietly to his residence. 

   It is said that the attempt on the part of the rebels to carry out the law of their Congress requiring the negro to fight for the enslavement of his race has caused a widespread and general stampede in the southern part of Mississippi, especially in Pike, Amite and Wilkinson counties. One planter recently lost one hundred head of his "peculiar" property, and many others have lost from ten to fifty, and in numerous cases the runaways have carried off carriages, horses, mules, harnesses and household effects belonging to their masters. And still the exodus continues. 

   We have received a copy of the official correspondence between Lord Lyons, Secretary Seward, Mr. Adams and Earl Russell, upon the subjects of the surrender of the pirate Semmes and his confreres, who escaped upon the sinking of the Alabama; upon British neutrality in Canada and in England, and the grievances complained of by Minister Adams and Secretary Seward in the fitting out and equipment of other ships-of-war in British ports to prey upon and destroy our commerce. The matter is by no means new, and the points treated upon have already been sufficiently elaborated in the columns of the HERALD; but the abstract is an interesting one. 

   The blockade running Flamingo arrived at Havana on the 6th inst., six days from Galveston, with nearly one thousand bales of cotton. The blockade runner Little Hattie had put to sea, but soon after returned with a hole through her smokestack, supposed to have been punched by a ball from  one of the guns of the United States gunboat Cherokee.