The Daily Dispatch: March 15, 1862., [Electronic resource]

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Follow it up.

We take it for granted that the magnificent achievement of the ‘"Virginia"’ is not to be followed by the suicidal apathy that succeeded the great victory of Manassas. If the crushing blow is not followed up, it might as well, so far as Southern Independence is concerned, have never been delivered. We see what we ought to do, by what the Yankees are afraid we will do, break the blockade, and sink their whole navy. They are themselves aroused like a hive of bees suddenly upset, and nothing that Yankee ingenuity can suggest will be left undone to capture or destroy the Virginia, and prepare a hundred vessels of like character, whilst we are reposing on our laurels. We must not give them time for all this. The Virginia must strike another crusher as soon as possible, in any direction that promises to be most effectual. The Monitor must be disposed of in some way or other. If our fertility of contrivance and resources is equal to that of the Yankees, there is no impossibility in accomplishing that object. Besides, more Virginia's must be built at once.--This wonderful experiment has exploded the idea of building wooden ships hereafter for harbor defence. The wooden ships have gone down with the Cumberland and the Congress, and we can, therefore, take a fair start with the North in building the only kind of navy for which we shall have any use in this war. In the meantime, let the Virginia go ahead, and open the blockade! She can do more for us in that matter than England and France.