Things at Fredericksburg.
Stringent Measures used.
[correspondence of the New York Times.]
A faint suspicion is dawning on my mind that we are conducting their war a little too gingerly that fewer rose leaves and more round shot should be distributed in the door-yards of our enemies. When disloyalty brings no penalty with it, many indulge in it merely to gratify their love of novelty. It is very pleasant for a man to profess his readiness to encounter martyrdom when he knows very well there is no prospect of his being martyred — he thus obtains the reputation of a hero at a very cheap rate. Thus the gentleman who was within our lines to day, having first assured himself that his property would not be disturbed and that he would be protected from pillage, then proffered his readiness to sacrifice every dollar of it to further the cause of the Confederacy. It is a pity that his desire for a pecuniary crucifixion for opinion's sake could not have been gratified. I am tired of seeing these old rascals, their heads hoary with the frosts of rebellious years, stalking round, talking treason, and yet at the same time demanding and obtaining protection for their lares and pennies.
Why, I have been credibly informed that after our little affair here the other evening our wounded soldiers lay out for hours on the ground, unsheltered, because, forsooth, we could not offend the fine sensibilities of the inhabitants by carrying wounded soldiers into their houses in opposition to their wisher. At the North the most comfortable quarters in the neighborhood would have been pressed into service as hospitals for our wounded; do these ungloved rebels who fought behind the barricades on that night, and then donned citizens' dress, deserve to have any more consideration extended them than would be shown loyal citizens under similar circumstances? At this very moment Union men are fleeing into our lines from the other side of the river, leaving their property behind them, to avoid being pressed into the Confederate army. Yesterday, of eight brothers named Morrison, three came in — the other five have been forced South--to ask protection, and suggest that some prominent rebels of Fredericksburg, whom they volunteered to point out, should be arrested and held as hostages for their brothers' return.--A company of men is to be sent over this evening to patrol the town, I believe.
Heretofore Fredericksburg has not been occupied. Though the rebels had large quantities of flour, grain and other stores secreted there, no action was taken to secure them and night after night they have been carried away. Had we placed a few pieces of cannon up on the heights commanding the town, and sent over a flag of truce to bring back the Mayor and Common Council, then informing these gentlemen that if a single thing was removed an experiment would be made upon the city with shell, I fancy that nothing would have been disturbed. We might also have informed them that for every Union man pressed into the rebel service we would force ten Secession sympathizers into our army, and place them in the front ranks, in the first engagement; that for every Union man's farm laid waste we would destroy the property of a dozen rebels I fancy that a different condition of things would have been inaugurated. But this would be establishing a reign of terror, says one. Establishing a reign of terror! Great God! it already exists. When Union men are obliged to flee from their homes and secrete themselves in the woods for their lives the reign of terror cannot much further go, and common sense suggests that here it should be ended.
One thing is certain: we must either make war or make peace. It is impossible to have both these luxuries at once — to fight and shake hands at the same time. We must either treat these people as enemies or friends. Until they avow themselves loyal, would it not be well to make them feel the pains and penalties of disloyalty? As it is, they declare that they never can be conquered; that they never will be subjugated; that they'll die, and the devil and Jeff. Davis only knows what not, before they will yield. The simple fact is, they don't know what they are talking about. They haven't tried dying, and don't know what a dreadfully unpleasant thing it is to do; they haven't yet lost their property, and don't know how inconvenient it is for a man to find himself suddenly without money; they take pleasure in proclaiming themselves traitors, because they have not yet become roused to the fact that treason is punishable by death. They have not yet felt the closing of the iron hand. When the pressure is really felt, and the bones begin to crack, it is my firm belief that they'll be ready to be folded in by the old Union instead.
Two church bells have been shipped from Fredericksburg to Richmond to be cast into cannon. They might have been put to a better use in ringing the knell of a few arch rebels. Confederate strip is at par in the town, but Treasury notes are scouted as weak in vanillins of the enemy. Fact similes of Confederate scrip, printed in Philadelphia, have been passed off to quite an amount by some of our own soldiers in exchange for other portable property. The natives toll us that no money but of this description has circulated there for months.
You have already learned by telegraph — unless the information was contraband — that some gunboats a fleet of canal boats for bridging purposes, and a ferry boat, have arrived here from Alexandria. The ferry boat, of course, had to be supplied with coal, and a good joke was played on the Mayor by Capt. Robinson, who seized all the coal at the gas works for the purpose; thus shutting off light from the dwellings and the countenances of the natives — at a time, too, when the town was destitute of candles. The Mayor remonstrated, but our peremptory Quartermaster demonstrated very clearly that we ourselves were short of candles, and that their condition would be no worse than ours. This is practical. The idea of standing out in the cold ourselves that our enemies may have shelter, is being rapidly ‘ "played out."’
I think it very probable that we shall have a battle in this vicinity very soon after crossing the Rappahannock. Rebel cavalry were seen to day within two miles of Fredericksburg, and I have it from a very authentic source — in fact, by several confirmatory stories coming from different sources, that the enemy have a force of from 10,000 to 15,000 men within ten miles of the town. Great apprehension is entertained of a dash into Fredericksburg by the rebel cavalry to-night. The company of which I made mention in a former part of this letter has not been thrown over, for the reason that the bridge is not yet built, and we would have no means of supporting them should the enemy swoop down. At the same time our General is excessively adverse to leaving the Union men of this burg unprotected, more especially as it is learned the rebels will seize the present opportunity to descend and carry off the few Union men that remain.
