Terror of the Yankees.
The extracts from the Baltimore American which we publish in another column, give a lively picture of the alarm which refuses to subside, but is rather on the increase in that city and Washington. We are delighted to see this as we are also to see that our troops begin to retaliate upon the Pennsylvanians, some of the outrages they have been perpetrating against us. We hope they will take deep and signal revenge for the injuries that have been inflicted upon us. Their armies with their approval, have stolen 500,000 negroes from the South, valued at $500,000,000, at the commencement of the war. They have no negroes to steal, but they have towns and manufactories to burn, and every one of these should be reduced to ashes. Property is property. There is no reason why one species of it should be exempt from the laws of war more than another.--Were our troops to burn Harrisburg, the loss to the enemy would not counterbalance the loss we have sustained in the article of negroes alone. We say, then, make the whole Pennsylvania Valley an astonishment to future generations. Let the traveller, in times to come, lift up his hands with amazement, as he does in those countries denounced in the Old Testament — once flourishing communities now howling wildernesses. It was said that "no blade of grass ever grew where the horse of Attila had once set his foot." Let the Confederate army imitate the leader of the Huns in this particular. The Valley of Pennsylvania ought to become a sea of flame, like the prairies of the Western world. Nothing should be left that man could eat, or sleep up on, or shelter himself, or procure food with. All this might be done — the land might be turned into a desert, and yet the balance of destruction would be against us. The whole city of Philadelphia if burnt to the ground would not pay for the negroes they have carried off. We are opposed to plundering — it ruins the discipline of an army, and turns it over an easy prey to the enemy. But we would have every house gutted, and the contents set on fire.--Thus only can we get even with this villainous foe, who has no compunctions of condolence, no regard for the laws of war, no respect for the usages of civilized society, no belief in the truths of Revelation, no fears of punishment in another world, no reverence for God, and no mercy for his fellow man. He should receive the measure that he has meted out to us — should receive it in full, and if he gets a little more than his due there is no great harm done.Revenge has been said to be "a feast for the Gods." Yet it is not for the sake of vengeance alone that we should like to see the suffering that has been inflicted upon our people, visited on the Yankees. We believe it to be the true policy — the only means left us of bringing them to a sense of what belongs to humanity. The species of war which they are waging against us is not dictated by any hope of its being successful.--They know well enough that we are not to be conquered by devastating our fields and destroying our towns. They wage this kind of war because they hate us, individually and collectively — hate every man, woman, and child in the Southern Confederacy. The only way to stop it is to retaliate.
