The Situation.
We publish in another column quite an extensive abstract of the news from the
West and the
Southwest.
All signed indicate an approaching struggle at
Vicksburg, compared to which all the battles that have yet been fought on this continent are but as so many skirmishes between kites and crows.
The Yankees Government appears determined to carry that point, imagining, no doubt, that success will open the
Mississippi and sever one half of our empire from the other.
How widely they are deceived in the first calculation, we took occasion to suggest a day or two ago. The Mississippi can never be navigated by merchant boats as long as the population on its banks are hostile.
The trade can easily be rendered so dangerous that it will not be attempted; for safe voyages are of the very essence of successful commerce.
With regard to the second proposition, it may be observed that even though
Texas,
Louisiana,
Arkansas, and
Missouri be separated from their sisters on this side of the
Mississippi, they constitute an empire, of themselves, full of resources, and inhabited by brave men, who prefer death to the rule of the
Yankees.
They have lead, powder, and the means of making it, arms and manufactories.
They can of themselves, give the
Yankees a vast deal of trouble, and would at least render the subjugation of the country east of the river a problem as difficult of solution as it now is. All this the
Yankees do not believe, however, but think that if they can take
Vicksburg their triumph will be complete.
Accordingly, the eagles are gathering to the slaughter from all quarters.
Grant demands a reinforcement of 50,000 men. He has already, in a great measure, stripped
Rosecrans, and that General has been compelled to fall back.
The great battle can be delayed but a few days, and if it result in our favor, it will have been the most important event of the war. We repeat what we said yesterday.
We have no fears for
Vicksburg.
We do not believe that she was ever built to be taken by Yankees.
If there be food enough to sustain the garrison and population we do not believe that she can be carried by storm.
We put our trust, under Heaven, in
Pemberton and his brave garrison — in
Joe Johnston and his glorious army.
It is true that
Port Hudson may be evacuated.
But this is a trifle, since the
Yankees hold the mouth of the
Red river.
It may be evacuated, we say, but it will never be taken by the
Yankees Let our friends keep up their spirits and never despair of
Vicksburg until they hear of its fall.
It is impossible that
Joe Johnston should not have a part, and a very important part, in the approaching grand struggle, and
Joe Johnston is not the man to let such a place as
Vicksburg fall, without a vigorous effort for its relief.
The news from
Winchester, although everybody was on the lookout for it, had a most cheering effect upon the spirits of our community.
The telegram of
Gen. Lee is short, almost to the point of unintelligibility.
Passengers by the cars say that 6,000 Yankees were taken prisoners; but as this is not confirmed officially, we place no confidence in it. It is a glorious affair, however, and will be considered still more glorious if
Milroy can be captured and hung.
That scoundrel has been earning his portion of the gallows for six months, and it were most desirable that he should be paid.
What may be the future movements of
Gen. Lee, we cannot imagine, nor even if we know
positively would we give a hint that might betray the cause.
There can be no longer any doubt that the
Yankees have entirely evacuated
Stafford, part of them having gone to
Aquia Creek, and part up the river.
What the movements of our own troops may be in consequence, we neither know nor should tell if we did know.
It is sufficient for us to know that they are watched by
Gen. Lee, and that they are not very apt to escape his vigilance.
In the horrible tragedy enacted by the
Yankees in the
Chesapeake, and consisting in the deliberate drowning of 43 unhappy negroes, to prevent the necessity of going into quarantine, we have a striking comment upon the
Yankee character, upon their conduct of the war, and upon their sympathy for the slave
Chase, of
Ohio, spoke the truth for once, when he said they loved not the negro, but they hated his master.
If all negrodom had one head to morrow, they would rejoice in cutting it off. To characterize this dead as infernal, were to use too mild a term for the occasion.
It was more horrible than that perpetrated by
Pelissier, when he smoked 500 Arabs — men, women, and children — to death in a cave.
It cannot be that God will smile on a cause upheld by such horrible atrocities.
It makes our blood curdle to think of them.
Lincoln, it seems, is determined to run again, and the New York
Herald is determined to support him. There is a baseness about old
Bennett that exceeds the aggregate badness of the whole universe.
He pretends to be a conservative and supports
Lincoln. --He pretends to hate the Abolition party, and he recommends the Abolition chief as the only person fit to rule Yankeedom.
The
European news is unimportant.
There appears not the feeblest symptom of recognition.
Mr. Hopp publishes a card in the London
Times, saying that he would not have offered his resolutions at the Sheffield meeting, had be not thought that the separate existence of the
Confederacy offered a better chance to the negroes for cutting their master's threats.
We thank him in the name of the
Confederacy.
