The invasion from Eastern Kentucky.
It has been apparent, for many months, and is obvious now, that the enemy is making a formidable demonstration towards East Tennessee from Eastern Kentucky. Our correspondence from Tazewell county, in Southwestern Virginia, which we published yesterday, sets down the column operating against Col. Williams at 10,000 strong; and it was believed that the force before General Zollicoffer, from which that General has been obliged to retreat upon Cumberland Gap, is probably twice as large. At the same time that we hear of the retreat of Colonel Williams upon Pound Gap, we hear apprehensions expressed for the safety of General Zollicoffer, at Cumberland Gap.The object of the enemy in pushing forward these columns is probably threefold. The chief purpose, doubtless, is to bring into its own support the large disaffected element of the population in East Tennessee, which have been corrupted by the clamor of Andy Johnson, Maynard, Brownlow, and Trigg. The next object of the enemy is, probably, to get possession of the salt- works in the Western corner of Smyth co., where half a million of bushels of salt a year are now manufactured. And last, but not least, the enemy aims at the possession of a portion of the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, so as to cut our direct communication, from the Seat of Government, with Nashville, Memphis, and our armies in Western Kentucky. The clandestine burning of bridges, at a concerted period, in Eastern Tennessee; proves the enemy's designs upon this important highway of transportation and travel.
It is very plain that, however our own Government may depreciate the importance of these designs of the enemy, the enemy himself is pushing them forward with his accustomed enterprise and perseverance. It looks now as if the old tactics are to be repeated. We are to sit still until the country is occupied; until the enemy has entered, taken possession, and made himself at home; and then we are to wake up to the fact that something must be done. In military tactics, no less than in medical economy, does the maxim hold good that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is not yet too late to bring this maxim into play. A few regiments, and a moderate supply of arms, ammunition, and artillery properly but immediately distributed at commanding points in Southwestern Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and along the chief approaches from Kentucky, will do more now than a great army could effect if once the enemy gets into that region of country.
Southwestern Virginia is intrinsically very important to the Southern cause. She has sent a very large quota of her young men into the Confederate Army. Her population are true; and we have an earnest of what it is disposed to do in the announcement from Tazewell, which we published yesterday, that General Bowen, of that county, was bringing his Brigade of Militia into the field to meet the enemy in the passes of the Cumberland Mountain. That is the temper of the people in all the counties of that region, Smyth, Wythe, Washington, Russell, Lee, Scott, Wise, Buchanan, and Tazewell. They lack arms and ammunition, but they do not lack the disposition to fight the enemies of Virginia, or to meet and drive back the minions of Lincoln. They may lack skill with artillery, but they are masters of the rifle, and know how to make that instrument speak a language before which the stoutest invader must recoil. No Government can afford to let such a population as this be overrun, or to lose a district from which so many of its best soldiers are supplied. Intrinsically important as Southwestern Virginia is to the Government, from the qualities of its people, it is even more important from its geographical position. If that country be given up, and East Tennessee be in consequence lost, the Empire of the South is cut in twain, and we become a fragmentary organization, fighting in scattered and segregated localities for a cause which can no longer boast the important attribute of geographical unity.
We are glad to believe that the Government is fully impressed with these views, and that orders have already been issued to meet the emergency of the case. A strong demonstration in the threatened quarter would overawe the enemy, and keep him at bay behind the rocky rampart of the Cumberland ridge of the Alleghanies. If he knows that the whole Secession population of the counties of Southwestern Virginia are armed, provided with ammunition and artillery, awaiting his approach; and that several Confederate regiments are guarding the passes of the mountains and the line of the railroad, he will not dare to show his face on the Eastern slope of the Cumberland barrier, even if he should have the temerity to attempt to force the passes.
