Results of the battle of Manassas.
Six months ago last Tuesday the great
battle of Manassas was fought.
If we may regret that it was not followed up by the capture of
Washington, which would have fallen into our hands without resistance, it is some consolation to reflect that the memorable Southern victory of the 21st July administered a blow to the enemy from which they have not recovered to this day. It has been productive of results such as have rarely flowed from a single great victory in the outset of a war. Who could imagine any great
European power, boasting the immense resources of the
North in men and munitions, which after one great defeat could not be able to take the field again in six months? It is true that the
United States have since organized an immense army, numbering, they pretend, two hundred thousand in
Washington, and six hundred thousand in all, thoroughly drilled and disciplined, and provided with an enormous amount and endless variety of warlike weapons, and yet this gigantic host has not dared to this day to make an advance upon the old battle ground, where six months ago they met the
South in that fatal trial of a ma. This fact alone is more damaging to there prestige and their cause than if the
battle of Manassas had been followed up by the capture of
Washington.
The world has looked at their colossal preparations and their pig my performance, at the mountain in labor and the mouse which it has brought forth, and has drawn conclusions more fatal to their reputation than if they had lost a hundred battles.
The beautiful weather, reaching into the very heart of winter, has invited them to some on, but its allurements have proved too weak for their discretion.
The convulsive attempt at
Leesburg, which-resulted in more terrific destruction, in proportion to the numbers engaged, than the
battle of Manassas, or almost any battle on record, could not provoke
McClellan to retrieve the eclipse which had come upon his sun in the very act of amarging from the horizon.
With everything in the machinery of war that any General could desire, the steam for propelling the massive mechanism was wanting, and it still lies stranded, like some huge hulk, on the shores of the
Potomac.
But, incentive as it is towards its enemies, it has been a huge millstone around the neck of its friends.
It has eaten out the very vitals of the Treasury and bankrupted the
Yankee nation.
The
battle of Manassas has thus demoralized the
United States in both purse and honor; and, if we have patience and perseverance, will yet compel it to succumb to the manifest destiny of the establishment of Southern independence.
Its effect upon the world at large has been equally great and remarkable.
It has given us a hearing at the tribunal of the nations, and proved to the satisfaction of the most incredulous, as Lord Lyons pertinently and wittily observed, that the
South is a belligerent power.
It has elevated the military prestige of the
Southern people in the eyes of all mankind, and convinced them that the people capable of such things have a cause worth fighting for, as well as a patriotism and perseverance equal to the maintenance of their cause.
It has given the
South itself new confidence in its energies, in the courage of its soldiers, and in the capacity of its
Generals.
The heroic blood that was shed there has consecrated the great cause of Southern independence in the hearts of every man, woman, and child in the land, and the immortal victory has illuminated our triumphant heroes with a light which will inspire and guide generations to new and perpetual devotion to liberty and independence.
All honor to the heroes who six months ago achieved such magnificent results, and who still stand with swords unsheathed to maintain the cause which they have won. All honor to the sons who there defended their mothers, and to the mothers who bore such sons and gave them to their country.
All honor to the glorious
Beauregard and
Johnston, and to the heroic
President who presented himself at the altar of that battle and shared its undying renown.
