The lesson of the aid,
We are not at all surprised that the
Yankees boast so hugely of the Stoneman raid.
It is true that it did very little damage.
The injuries to the railroads were very slight, and soon repaired.
But all this matters not to them.--Their journals will fabricate any amount of damage that the
Northern appetite can demand and the gullibility of the world can swallow.
We are not disposed, however, to underrate the importance of the lesson which this raid teaches, and the disasters which may ensue if it is not taken to heart.
The damage the
Yankee raid actually accomplished was nothing; what it
might have done, (with such a cavalry leader as
Stuart,) incalculable.
We are not so sure that the
Yankees made an empty boast when they say they could have dashed suddenly through
Richmond, and, perhaps, made our
President prisoner!
In the darkness and confusion they might have fired the public buildings, storehouses, and bridges, and inflicted a loss which might have proved fatal to our noble army.
All this they
might have done, and all this they
will yet do, if the authorities, whose duty it is to protect the city and the railroads leading to it, do not learn a lesson from the
Yankee raid.--
When we hear in mind the strong force and sleepless energy with which
Washington is guarded, it seems wonderful that our own capital should be left in a condition so exposed that two hundred.
Yankees can ride within two miles of the town and absolutely go to sleep, keeping time with their snores to the ringing of the city bells.
Shall we ever relapse again into such a condition and invite our destruction?
