Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-08-29
A striking Contrast.

A Striking Contrast.
The following article which appeared in the New
York Herald of the 18th of February last, is in
striking contrast with the course pursued by that
journal at present. At that time the mob had not
made demonstration against the Herald Office, and
it uttered the sentiments which it supposed to be
entertained by the majority of the people of the
North The radicals, led on by the New York Tri-
blpe, triumphed, and the IsraId had to change Its
tactics. Subsequent events have vindicated many
of the positions assumed by the Herald in Febru-
sry:
From the New Ysrk Herald, February Is, ls0I.'
INVASION OF THE SOUTH AND INVASION or TUE NORTH.
The New York Tribune Of yesterday laughs to
seOFn the aYoWed determination Of Jefferson Davis
to carry the war into the North which, if there be
war, would undoubtedly be his game. The South
ern Confederate States will not invade the North
unless the North send ships Of war and armies to
coerce them; and in that event the border slave
States and all THAR population to man, will be with
the cotton States, who viii be sure to Mason
and Dixonis llns.
So despicable In Warlfke character does the TI-i-
bune assume Southern men to be, that il says a
small feet of seGgOing steamers and an army of
twenty thousand or thirty thousand men, eoncen-
hated at New York, could keep the entire South in
perpetual check, and not man would be sent north
ward from any Of the Atlantic or Gulf States" The
philosophy of this ha ardous opinion is explained to
be that mo nation Or State with an accessible sea-
board can venture on offensive operations against
an enemy who commands the sea- This might
hold good in the case Of an island, such as Great
Britain, whose wooden walls alone have saved her
from conquest by France but suppose England
instead of being separated from France by Dover
Straits were part OF the Continent Of Europe, and
were divided from her neighbOr by stream or only
an imaginary geographical line, how long could
"perfdiOus Albion" be saved from invasion by the
fact that she held command Of the sea And of what
avail would be the enemy's command Of the sea if
his own land was Conquered? The command Of the
land is much better than the command OF the sea,
under such circumstances and this is Just che
with the Southern States. Only small forces can be
transported to a Distance by ssa-the opera
tions are tedious the cost enormous, and the
always attended with peril
while by land where there are no mountain bsrri>
ers or impassable rivers, Ol'ains Of well manned
fortPesses in the way, and especially where there
are railroads, large army Of 100000 Esen might
be suddenly concentrated at any given point OF the
frontier and by forced marches advance upon and
conquer the large and populous but unfortfed cit
les Of the North, where the invaders could find am
pie provisions spoils and munitions of war; where
IS, according to the statements of the republican
journals, an invading Northern army could find no
sustenance at the starving South andmust perish
i any accident should cut it of from its base of
operations or stop its supplies. But no matter how
we'll prOvisiOned it might be, there would be pen-
y of troops at the South to take care of it. Sup
pose the twenty or thirty thousand safely landed,
low far would they be able to penetrate into the
country before being cut of from their ships by
arger army in their rear! As they would GO TO the
south to "enfor0e the law they could not lay waste
he country or seize provisions, or slaughter peace
ul citizens of the United States. They could only
leal with "rebels" with arms in their hands. If,
therefore,, the republicans can only scrape up live
lrmy Of 20 coo men, they would act a wiser part
~ keeping it in New York city for its defence,
han by sending it, 8 fOrlOrn hope, to the South
,ever to come back. Now the invading Southern
Lrmy would not be under the same obligations to
-espect persons or property at the NorthI for hsv
ng thrown of allegiance 10 the Union, they might
reat all at the North foreign foes and waste the
and by fire and sword.
On the other hand, as regards the South, a sparse
,opu!atiou with a large area of country is rather
IN advantage to the invaded. This was the case in
he war of La Yepdee, which gave the French
Directory such trouble st the time cf the ReVolu-
ion An army has to travel, in such cases, I'M
nense distances without accomplishing anything or
eeing an enemy, and it is ever liable to surprise
was this circumstance that so favored the colonies
, hen invaded by Great Britain in the Revolution
v war She had then command of the sea- What
Ia she achieve? in the late war with Russia, the
Alied fleets swept the seas but what did that effect
n land? In the invasion OF thickiy populated
district, with large army, the conquest is greatly
aeiitsted il it contains large cities without fort
ed walls, for it is proved by experience that all the
opulstion who not soldiers only in the way,
nd A h:nlrGnce to the defence. Hence the panic |
D England in recent years about the capture of |
,opdOn by the French, when it was feared an in !
AIDING force might be successfully landed on the |
cast.
aFerther- bed sOdiers and amateurs, such as cur /
Militia in great part consists of, would be Of very
tile use IN real and hard fighting. IL is evil
eut to every observer, notwithstanding the num- !
ers of mi itia on paper and even the OCCASION
parade of uniformed and partially drilled regi-
rents at the North that we are not now military /
eople. whatever we may have been in other days. |
he progress of commerce and trade and maEufsc- |
ures while tending to wealth and luxury along the
Iorthern seaboard. tends also TO render effemi |
ate and unsuited for war. The degeneraey Of the |
,nglish population is case in point In the Cri~ |
,ean war the recruits raised in the manufacturing |
owns were, from their appearance, the laughing |
tock of the British press. They perIshed by thou
aHds from the hardships Of war, without shot |
rom the enemy. The principal part of the fighting |
,as done by the French, who accordingly received |
Il the glory. Heretofore, England obtained her |
ghting men from Ireland and the Highlands Of Scot
md But in recent years, from the depOpulatiOn 4
f ireland by famine and emigration, and owing to |
be high prices of labor and to the fact of those |
Istricts Of Scotland which produced the troops |
yaich wou the field of Waterloo being cleared Of /
uman iubabitants in order to make room for the 1
at sheep walks and deer-parks of the Dutchess of
utherland and.other phianthropists whose benev- /
lence seeks all other objects excepting white men,
reat Britain has lost her stalwart hardy warriors,
nd now, instead Of first, ranks only second or /
bird among the Powers Of Europe. : factory pop /
lntion, or mechanics Ut clerks, or merchants, or /
hose employed constantly within doors, not the |
tuf with which good armies are made. So that /
reat numbers, az, for example, in the case Of the
;hinese, do not always show military strength, |
shieh depends rather on the quality Of the men |
han on their count
That the North has greatly degenerated in milf
arv proyess while the South has greatly advaac- |
d ia demonstrated by the incontestible facts and
gures to be found in the Official returns Of the |
Var Department. In the war Of the Revolution !
then gloriods Massachusetts, con-
ributed more than double the number Of men fur |
lished by any other colony. She gave 82,206 sol
:srs which cannot be altogether accounted for by
he fact that the brunt Of the war was at first on
Ter own soil Connecticut supplied S9,75l; New
Hampshire II 4I6; Rhode Island lO.04T, while New
FORK gave 21 600; New Jertey l6 740; Pennsylvania
IS SI28; Virginia 80 600; Maryland Is 600. Al the
colonies were slaveholding and all did well. Now
ct US come to the war Of lsl2-l5. By the North>
ern States there were then furnlshed troops which
served for three months, SO 562; by the Southern
states 96152, making majority of 1902 n favor
Of the South. How many did Massachusetts, fur
nish in this WARP Only SIZE; while New HamPN