Harper's Weekly plan of campaign.
We are not at all surprised at the infamous course of
Harper's Weekly, hitherto so generally taken in
Virginia.
Harper has his plan of the campaign, like all the New York editors; but we have no room for details.
He recommends the instant seizure and occupation of
Baltimore, and then, he says,‘"a column should move on
Richmond.
Richmond is important, first as the capital of
Virginia, and secondly, as the greatest depot of arms and flour in the
Southern States.
The entire rebel force is armed and fed, at this moment, by
Richmond.
It should be in the possession of the
Government before 1st June."’
Having captured
Richmond,
Mr. Harper proceeds to demolish the
West.
He says
St. Louis, Mo.;
Louisville, Ky.; and
Memphis, Tenn., should be occupied by Northwestern troops, and the strong points on the river fortified.
The editor orders fifty thousand men for this purpose, and a ‘"home reserve of an equal number to fill vacancies after battles."’ This is a prudential provision.
The home reserve should be made up of men of undaunted spirit, for every man of them will be needed.
‘"
Kentucky and
Missouri, we notice,"’ exclaims
Harper, with a dignity that would become the Czar of
Russia, ‘"evince a tardy sense of their national obligations.
This is very good, as far as if goes.
(Magnificent !)--But
Kentucky may as well understand at once that she cannot occupy an attitude of neutrality in the present contest.
If she is not for us, she is against us; and really, in the present temper of the
North, people don't seem to care much which way she goes.
If she is for us, we expect her riflemen in our ranks.
If she is against us, in a few months
Ohio will probably be arming 50,000 negroes, who will have fled from slavery in
Kentucky.
It is hard to say which event would be best for the
North."’ Do you hear that, old
Kentucky ! Do you hear that, sons of the men who annihilated the flower of
Europe's veterans at New Orleans, and ten thousand of whom could lay waste every town in
Ohio.--Old Kentucky ! Bullied by
Harper's Weekly !
Having thus disposed of matters as far South as
Memphis, the great strategist remarks:‘"It will probably take the whole summer to consummate these operations.-- (Undoubtedly.) But they can be consummated by the 1st of November; and by that time the
North, holding the continent from
Richmond, Va., to
Memphis, Tenn, will be ready to commence operations against the
Gulf rebels.
This should not be begun before November.
It would be fatal to send troops South in the summer."’
What does this wonderful man call
Memphis ! If it is not South enough in Southern heat and all the diseases of a Southern climate, we know less of Southern localization than
Harper does of military science.
But waiving that, let us proceed.
In November,
Mr. Harper will move two armies, one in transports from New York, the other down the
Mississippi.
The one is to retake
every Fort, Arsenal, Custom-House and Post-Office in the
Southern States on the Atlantic; the other to serve directly in
Baton Rouge and New Orleans Both are expected to perform their work by the 1st of January next.
Such is the plan recommended by "
Harper's Weekly and Journal of Civilization," long a favorite family newspaper in the
Southern States.
Incredible as the project and the crime, we have no doubt it is seriously contemplated. --The Southern people are not yet half awake to the amazing compound of diabolism and idiocy which now controls the counsels of the
Government.
Forewarned, we shall be forearmed.
All the resources which military skill can suggest will multiply obstructions upon the line of invasion, and all that human devotion and valor can accomplish for all that is most dear to the human heart, will be exerted.
That the invasion will be attempted, we do not doubt; that every man in it will perish by such a death as such an unheard of aggression demands, we have just as little.
And what, according to
Harper, is the question upon which we are about to join issue?
Listen and wonder: ‘"It is not now a question of slavery or antislavery.
It is not even a question of Union or disunion.
The question simply is, whether Northern men will fight.
Southerners have rebelled and dragged our flag in the dirt, in the belief that, because we won't fight duels or engage in street brawls, therefore we are cowards.
The question now is, whether or so they are right."’
What a question ! Are they such fools and madmen as to ruin themselves and the country for the solution of such a question?
What a miserable pretext ! We never to this day have doubted the courage of the
North in defence of its own firesides.
No. It is not to prove her courage — for brave men do not need to fight to prove that quality — that the
North has rushed upon this war. It is simply and alone to hold on to the vast profits she derives from the great staples of the
South.
Her commerce and manufactures depend upon the possession of the
Cotton States, and she will fight to the death for that object.
But her passions have gotten the better of her powers of calculation, and the
South has gone forever.
Even if she could conquer the
Cotton States, it would be a barren triumph; for the desolation to which the Russians once devoted their country would be fertility compared with the destruction which would be brought upon the whole cotton-growing region of the
South.
