The national Republican., 1861-04-11
PENSACOLA,

1ENohSOLhs
The magnificent bay of Pensacola, twenty.
seven miles in length and lin its broadest psrt)
twelve miles in width, has twenty.one feet Of
water on its bar. The navies of the world can
float securely within it. The great work which
protects it is Fort Pickens, erected by the Uni.
ted States, at cost Of nearly million of
dollars, on the long, low, and marrow island of
Santa Rosa. On the mainland side Of the
entrance to the bay, are Fort McRes, erected
by the United States, at cost Of four hundred
thousand dollars, and Fort Barrancas, an old
Spanish fortifcation, improved and enlarged
by our Government. All these mainland de-
fences have fallen into the hands of the rebels,
together with the Navy Yard, and an immense
amount Of stores, provisions, and munitions.
These last might have been saved, but for the
imbecility of Commodore Armstrong, who
commanded at the Navy Yard, but the entire
loss of defences and stores is attributable to
the treason Of the late Secretary Of the Navy,
Mr.. Toucey, who kept the Gulf squadron at
Vera Cruz, and never sent single vessel, either
to protect the public works at Pensacola, or to
bring of the public property which was nova.
BILE. That Fort Pickens was saved, is owing
solely to the individual gallantry Of Lieutenant
slemmer and the handful of brave men under
his command.
The value of Pensacola harbor, upon the de-
fences of which we have lavished so much, is
incalculable. In a national point of view, it
can only be reckoned by hundreds Of millions
of dollars. 1t is the only possible naval har.
Dor on the Gulf, and as the complement of Key
West and Tortugas commanding the Straits Of
Florida, will give US that secure supremacy in
the Gulf of Mexico, which we cannot yield in
any imaginable contingency. If even the
present (so-called) secession be acquiesced in,
an immense prepouderance of the population
of the valley Of the Mississippi is within the
United States, and that fact compels US to retain
the mastery of that inland sea, through which
the commerce Of the Mississippi must pass to
the ocean.
Pensacola is one of the most healthy posi-
tons in that latitude, and is resorted to during
the heats of summer, from New Orleans. The
population of the town and vicinage is largely
Of the old stock found there when we acquired
the country, the two chief Spanish settlements
having been at Pensacola and St. Augustine
1t is population, quiet, inoffensive, and in
clined to be loyal, and when the rowdies col
lected there by the conspirators from Georgia
Alabama, and Mississippi, are driven of, as
they will be by the diseases of summer in the
camp of drunken soldiery, if not by more
summary methods, there will be no more diff.
Guilty in retaining Pensacola, than there is in
retaining Brooklyn.
The Georgians collected at Macon cannot
approach Pensacola by railroad, nearer than
within one hundred and fifty miles, and for that
distance must march through country thinly
settled and furnishing little in the way of sup,
ply, and over execrable roads. On the other
side, the rebels come through Mobile, whence
they are water borne to. Blakely, a point fifty
miles from Pensacola.
The Democratic politicians in Congress
headed by Judge Douglas, who have staked
their regulations with the country upon the
policy of surrendering Fort Pickens to the
conspirators, will find that they have eyre
giously mistaken the impulses of the Ameri
can people. 1t has extinguished the last, lin
gering hold which Judge Douglas had upon
the Northwest.
Da5- The correspondent from this city Of the
Philadelphia Inquirer says:
"When it was ascertaned that Mr.. Lincoln
was elected President, there was large addi
ton to patriotic band of Wide Awakes here,
and in due time every one of them wanted an
office, Just to show that their services were ap.
preciated."
There was no increase of the number of our
Wide Awakes after the election of Mr.. Lin.
coin.