The War news.
--The news of this morning is indicative of serious work near at hand. At Charleston the enemy seeing the damage sustained by Fort Sumter (a fort which our batteries of guns greatly inferior to those now used by the enemy, silenced in a few hours,) from their thousands of ponderous missiles, had demanded the surrender of the city, and of Morris Island. Gen. Beauregard's reply was worthy of him. The enemy understands from it that Charleston is not taken, and that he has much more digging and bombarding and fighting to do before he can take it, if he ever takes it at all, which is altogether improbable. Let Sumter be razed to a mass of rubbish there yet remain obstacles far more serious than Sumter in the enemy's way. If he gets Charleston at all it will cost him dearly; and when he does he will more likely conquer a city in ruins! The Southern Confederacy, we believe, has brought itself to the determination not to abandon cities upon a threat of the enemy that unless they are given up they will be shelled — simply to save the houses! It is found to be only giving up comfortable quarters to the enemy, while all of our own people who remain in them are persecuted and abused like dogs. None of their rights of property are respected, while personally they are not accorded the ordinary usages of humanity, much less those of common civility and decency. All eyes are upon Charleston. She is far yet from falling and triumph or fall, we know that her defenders are about to illuminate our history by another chapter that will excite the admiration of the world. Her example will be invaluable to our people and a warning to the enemy, who will have a fearful admonition of terrible resistance they must continue to meet in their war of invasion and subjugation of the South.The Southwest is becoming again the theatre of interest. Rosecrans is said to be advancing upon Bragg; while in the West Burnside is pressing upon Buckner, who holds East Tennessee. This is probably all the better. The effect of our campaign beyond the Potomac and the loss of Vicksburg is that the enemy presses us, and it is when we are pressed that we achieve results worthy of the cause and the nation. The danger of too much success on our side has always been too much confidence and the relapsing into carelessness and apathy.--We grow listless, and our men pine in inactivity and die rapidly from camp diseases. Fewer would perish on the battlefields of an active campaign.
The enemy has suffered heavily of late. At Gettysburg his loss was greatly more than ours; at Vicksburg and Port Hudson his loss was greatly more than all the men he captured from us in those places. Nor were his losses terminated with the capture of those places. Disease — yellow fever and camp fever — has been rapidly killing his men ever since. The movement of Rosecrans — if he has, indeed, begun a march — is one of desperation possibly. The immense losses from disease in the Federal army may urge him to do something at once before his army is too feeble to hold its position, much less to advance.
A week or two will bring us, we believe, news to cheer us. There is no good reason now for despondency; for the situation since this time last year is not much altered to our disadvantage.--A single victory in the Southwest will recover much that we have lost there. The strong position in East Tennessee can hardly be lost to us. Here in Virginia the enemy is further from Richmond than he was last year. Should Charleston fall he cannot make headway into the interior, and will only be able to close that place as a port of entry.
So the situation brightens, because it shows signs of activity, and that is grateful to the brave Confederate soldier. We have always gotten along better when the enemy showed fight than when he delayed his movements. We have generally repelled his attacks successfully, while we have not failed to attack him when he gave us the opportunity. We have carried his field fortifications — he has never, save very partially, carried ours. Let him come on then — our men will meet him cheerfully; and they will beat him, too, unless the programme of past campaigns is greatly changed for the one just coming.
