Notes of the War.
The Northern papers raise something of shout over the appointment of
Andy Johnson as
Brigadier- General, and his transfer from the Senate to the position of ‘"Provisional Military Governor"’ of
Tennessee.--They seem to regard it as fully settled that the people of
Tennessee will hall their new ‘"Governor"’ with an enthusiasm which no other man could command.
In connection with this appointment, the New York
Herald discusses old Abe's ‘"Union policy"’ as follows:
‘
We think it very probable that one of the immediate consequences of this war will be an emancipation pressure upon the border slave States, which will rapidly operate to the abolition of slavery therein; and by the action of these States themselves, in view of the changed condition of things around them,
Maryland,
Virginia,
Tennessee,
Kentucky, and
Missouri, with the restoration of the
Union, will, we think, find it to their advantage to slough off this institution of slavery as quickly as possible, consistent with the public tranquility.
We think, too, that such will be the course of said States, with the issue in their hands, and the question should be left to them, and to every other slave State of the present day, as it was left originally to the slave States of New York,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and others.
This is the policy of ‘"Honest
Abe Lincoln;"’ and as it has been consistently pursued in the reclamation of
Maryland,
Missouri,
Kentucky, and
Tennessee, from the gripe of this rebellion, we may venture the opinion that it will still be adhered to, all the emancipation schemes of
Sumner,
Trumbull,
Lovejoy,
Cheever,
Beecher, and
Greeley, to the contrary notwithstanding.
It is this policy which has broken down the stronghold of the rebellion in the
West, and which, if not disturbed, will speedily break up the whole concern.
We expect shortly to find it fully developed in the complete restoration of
Tennessee to the laws and benefits of the
Union.
In this connection we would suggest, however, that no State convention is necessary.
Tennessee is not in the condition of a province wrested from a foreign enemy.
She has not, in fact, been out of the
Union.
Her functions as a State adhering to the
Union have simply been suspended by a lawless armed mob. We have beaten off this mob, and its spurious State officers and agents, and all that remains to be done is to fill the vacancies which we find in the
personnel of the legitimate State Government, and in the representation of the
State in the houses of Congress.
We dare say, however, that under the instructions of the
President, and with a powerful army to support him,
Governor Johnson will fulfill the public expectations in the restoration of the law and order of the
Union in
Tennessee.
’
Proposed tax upon newspapers.
The Tax bill introduced in the
Federal House of Representatives by
Mr. Stevens, proposes to place several heavy taxes upon newspapers, and the consequence is quite a commotion among the individuals who control the New York press.
The
Herald claims that it would have to pay from thirty to forty thousand dollars a year in the form of taxes for the support of the
Government, but facetiously remarks that this large sum would be cheerfully paid, and hopes that the bill may soon become a law. The following is a pleasing picture of the harmony existing in the ‘"happy family"’ of New York journalists:
‘
The
Tribune states that its annual taxes will amount to about twenty- five thousand dollars, and the
Times and
World will have to pay proportionate sums.
As the
Tribune confesses that it is now losing money everyday of its publication, it will of course be unable to contribute its twenty-five thousand dollars, and the
Times and
World are both in the same peculiarly perplexing pecuniary predicament.
For the benefit of this impoverished and ruined trio, therefore, we revive our former suggestion, which they would have done well to regard some time ago, and kindly advise them to make a copartnership of the three establishments, and issue only one paper.
They must either combine or collapse, and we are anxious that they shall combine.
Together their aggregate circulation would become almost respectable, their advertising would occupy several columns, their expenses for editors and reporters, printers and pressmen, would be diminished, and they would make almost harmonious trio, and work together, as usual, for the abolition of everything generally, under the pleasing and appropriate title of the greatest newspaper on earth--‘"the World, the Flesh, and the Devil."’
As for the evening papers, the
Post and
Commercial are least able to endure any pecuniary strain, and will have to coalesce upon the
Christian principle of bearing one another's burthens.
The
Journal of Commerce will die, no doubt, having killed many of its readers lately with
. It has been diseased a long time, and its decease will be very natural, not unexpected, and very little regretted.--The
Express will probably be able to pay its little tax of about ten thousand dollars from the receipts of its ninety-nine editions; and the well known patriotism, liberality and public spirit of its proprietors, leave no doubt that its contribution will be cheerfully paid, and even doubled if the
Government requires the sacrifice.
The Sunday papers, however, must either unite or become extinct.
On the part of the public we sincerely desire that the Sunday press may decide upon the latter alternative; but, if all the Sunday papers bundle together, we suggest that the result be called the
Sunday Sewer, and wish it all the success it deserves and can obtain as a new rival to
Barnum's ‘"Happy Family."’
By all means, then, let the tax bill pass immediately.
The Government needs the money it will realize from the taxes, and the public is anxious for the newspaper reforms the taxes will inaugurate.
’
A correspondent of a Northern paper, writing of the evidences of treason among the ladies of
Nashville, says:
‘
I have seen only two cases of women who are loyal, and both of these are among what might be called the ‘"lower walks"’ of social life.
One of these was a bare-armed, bare- headed female that issued from a shanty on the bluffs as we passed along the front of the city, and commenced waving her hands wildly up and down, at the same time
tattering violently on her toes, like some devotes before the altar of an Aztecoidol.
She continued this demonstrative but original welcome, till a couple of other females issued from the same shanty, and forcibly carried her in-doors.
It may be suspected that her loyal recognition sprang rather from whiskey than patriotism — a suspicion that my own mind is not altogether free from, as I have carefully reflected upon this singular and almost isolated case of Union feeling.
The other case was also that of an Irish lady, and seemed more the result of genuine loyalty than of stimulants.
As
Gen. Grant and Staff were riding through the city, a woman rushed out from a house, and throwing up her hands in the style adopted by cruel parents when they say ‘"Bless you, my children,"’ in fifteen-cent novels, exclaimed; ‘"God bless ye, gintlemen!
Success go wid ye!
Arran, git in there, ye thafe, and don't be boderin' the life out o' me!"’ The last remark, I may say, was accompanied by a resounding slap, and was addressed to a dirty-faced gessoon that thrust his unkempt head beyond the doorway — and not, as may be surmised, to the Illinoisian hero.
The youth set up one of those vigorous howls so peculiar to offended juvenility, and amid a chorus of slaps, blessings, and the roars of the suffering infant, the
General turned a corner and disappeared.
A little further, and the party passed slowly by a costly carriage, out of one of whose windows was thrust the head of an elegantly dressed lady.
She was giving some directions to the liveried darkey that held the reins, but looking up as the party passed, she caught sight of the
Federal uniforms.
With a ‘"baugh!"’ as if she had swallowed a toad, she spat toward the ground, and with a contemptuous and expressive grimace of disgust upon her features, drew in her head, and threw herself back in her carriage.
Quite possibly such movements are the very height of Southern breeding — further North, in the land of Yankees and wooden clocks, a woman who would perpetrate an act of this kind, under similar circumstances, would be regarded — well, to use a convenient everyday expression, as ‘"no better than she should be"’--a somebody closely skin to, if not the identical, scar;et feminine spoken of in Revelations.
’
American Brigadiers.
The following is from a recent number of the
London Saturday Review: ‘
Mr. Lincoln deserves compassion for the difficulty which he experiences in finding suitable candidates for the different offices in his gift.
Mr. Cameron, after becoming too notorious at home, is made a
Minister Plenipotentiary, and
Mr. Cassites Clay, whom he
supersedes, having made himself unusually absurd at St. Petersburgh, is to be consoled with the commission of
Brigadier-General.
Americans seem not to understand the comic impression which is produced on the minds of foreigners by the language of the involuntary buffoons, or simpletons, whom it is their pleasure occasionally to employ.
Mr. Clay commenced his mission to
Russia by delivering at
Paris an extravagant speech against
England, which he thought proper to threaten with a French invasion.
On arriving at his destination he was overwhelmed by the condescension of ‘"
Prince Alexander Gortschakoff III.,
Minister of Foreign Affairs to His majesty
the Emperor."’ ‘"He received me in a cordial way, shaking hands and causing me to be seated."’
Mr. Clay probably expected that Prince Gortschakoff would treat a Foreign Minister like a serf; but at his departure the gracious
Hessian once more reassured him by ‘"again shaking hands"’
The Emperor paid the
United States Minister a more unusual compliment by ‘"speaking American mostly."’ The proverbial astuteness of the
House of Romanov is strikingly illustrated by the labor which the
Emperor must have devoted to the acquisition of that nasal dialect of English which is seldom mastered by Europeans.
Mr. Clay judiciously informed His Imperial Majesty that he should rather like a war with
England, and ‘"the
Emperor seemed to like my defiance of old
John Bull very much. "’ It must be admitted that great potentates can seldom find in the formal reception of a diplomatist so much opportunity for amusement.
Mr. Clay concludes the dispatch with the hope that
Gen. Scott will ‘"slowly and surely subdue the rebellion, 'stock, lock, and gun-barrel, hook and line, bob and sinker.'"’ The gods have granted half his prayer in conceding the slowness of the
Federal progress; and
Mr. Clay himself, in his military capacity, will be in time to insure the final result before the bob and sinker have finally disappeared.
The difficulty of conducting a great war when it is thought necessary to give
General's commissions to such addle-brained prattlers, may, in a certain sense, be admitted as a partial excuse for the blunders and helplessness of every branch of the
Federal Administration.
The approaching failure of funds may be converted into a public benefit, if it enables the
Government to relegate into private life the chattering Brigadiers and
Colonels who have suddenly risen from the stump into the saddle.
Mr. Stanton has refused to confirm 1,400 of
Mr. Cameron's commissions, and if he were to cancel as many more on the pretext of economy, he would probably do good service to the army.
’
