The Smoky Hill And Republican Union

Gen. Prentiss Makes a Speech.

It was pleasantly told of Gen. Prentiss, when moving through Northern Missouri last fall, that he would march all day and address the people at the cross roads every evening. As he always makes a good speech it was not so bad for the people after all. - But they are telling at Savannah and Pittsburg of a later and his latest speech at Grand Junction, Mississippi, where he was taken a prisoner from the field on Sunday. A correspondent tells the tale for us. He says Gen. Prentiss was confined in a large hall and excited great curiosity among the populace. He bore their staring with great good humor, but when they began to ask questions he told them he would make them a speech if the commandant would allow. That officer on being consulted gave his consent and his countenance by dropping in himself, when Gen. Ben. lifted up his voice and went in on a rousing Union speech. - He told them of the Government that was, of its beneficence and mildness, of its power, and the position it had won before the world, and of the hopelessness of their struggle with it. And then he talked pathetically of the dear old flag and the times gone by when it floated over an united land, and at this point his elder listeners broke down and tearfully heard him through. The story is told on the authority of twelve men of the aged persuasion who have come in to Gen. Halleck's lines and professed their Unionism, revived by Gen. Prentiss' speech and desire to take the oath of allegiance. That is the story that comes to us.