Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-09-04
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Our people have been SO long uuacoustoned to
the vicissitudss of that they have otyet arm.
ed how 70 Eeigh-fuccess against m:sha2s and 10
striker hslaDcs between good and evil fortune.
Thus far il il certainly true that the balance in
question has been largely 10 our favor and for that
very reason, perhaps. we do not bear oar revcses
with all the equanimity becoming the cause we are
engagediu. We have been spoiled by success until
small touch OF adversely goes harder with us than
itougbt, We seem to have forgotten that no war
ever J ct eonductsd 70 an issue without occasions
reverses even to tue most fortunate.
We by no means esteem the reverse at Hatteras
an affair of sufficient importance to blunt the hopo
even OF the least hopeful We have known from
the first that we had a coast more than thousand
miles long todeiend sgainst an enemy who had
command Of the sea. We ought therefore to have
been prepared TO expect descenrs of the kind prac-
tieed on this OCCASION ct any hour of the day. 1t
Is impossible to defend seabOard of such vast ex-
tent SO eiectually as TO render descent impossi-
bic Our policy is, or should be to secure certain
points of peculiar importance and this is all that
any power earth can do. If the enemy had not
landed a. Hatteras the probability is that he would
have nded Somewhere else. So far as &c arc
concerned. it is as well shat he landed where he
did as anywhere else. SOmeuhere he was sure to
land.
What does he gain -by the capture of Hatteras!
Does he wish to break up our privateers sailing
from the coast of North Carolina? If that is the
object the whole coast accessible to rhis fleet
Does he wish to establish basis for future opera
tons in the Atlantic Cotton States? 1t would have
been impossible to have prevented birn from accom-
plishng that object IN some other plaee even Ifhe
had failed at HatteTas We cannot prevent him from
landing an army. The only thing we can do is TO
beat such army after it shall have been Landed. Is
there any doubt about our doing this? We conceive
that there is aOne whatever II the volunteers of
North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, can
not beat such rabble as Lincoln will be able to
send against them, then history is hlr, and exper
fence the most palpable Of impossers. In the mean
time We feel convinced that it is the intention of
the enemy TO constituts Hatteras base of opera
tons fQrinYsding South Carolina and Georgia. The
New York Herald has been limiting ss some such
scheme for several weeks past and we regard this
"a the first move IN the game.
This invasion will have beneficial fact in one
respect IL viii rouse all the States To put forth
their full strength. Hitherto some of them have
done so only partially. Virginis,has nearly twelfth
of her while population in the field She has 65 600
volunteers under arms. Her population is about
one-seveuth of that of the whole Confederation.
Seven times sixty five thousand makes four hundred
aad1 fifty five thousand and thar is the number of
men we should have in the field if all did as well
Virginia This affair viii assist in rousing them.
and we shall soon have that number in the field.
With an army of four hundred and fifty thousand
in the field we may calculate with certainty on eat
ing our Christmas Inner ia New York So far from
feeling despondent, We should be glad to see these
They split up tie forces of the enemy
and weaken him the vital point. From that point
nothing ought to divert our gaze Break through
the line there and all these attempted diversions go
for nothing. The great object of these excursions
IS to tsrn attention from Manassas it will not
do. ss-s-..f vs.rz -1.--l7 .a-s - a..s-s a. z I
The Petersburg Express says Fort H1tteras is
ao intrinseally of any value to the Yankees, being
nothing but q sand-bank separated from the main
land by Pamlico Sound, shallow body of water so
miles long, and from ten to twenty five miles wide.
Il is exposed to all the dangers and inconYeDiences
which are peculiar to that part of our Atlantic
coast, aud which, in fact make it the terror of
gators. When the equinoctal seassn comes, as soon
Ii WILL and the winter surf beats in all its fury upon
It's beach, H1tteras will prove to its csptors any
ming else than mfortabe and profita Bile posses
'icn. All that they can do in the meantime is TO
annoy the opposite shore across the Sound with pi
ratical boat expeditions when they think they can
10 so with safety.
Although of no actual value to the Yankees, the
Express says BattePas is worth something to the
COufederatas point % intercept with privateers
Northern vessels engaged in the West India, Mexi-
ian and South American trade Many captures
have recently been made in its vicinity and pzid
handsomely. Ii will however, be an exceedingly
ificult, if not altogether imprscticsble job to
retake it, in consequence of its distance from the
mainland and the command OF the waters around it
BY the Yankee fleet If the Confederates could
and suficientforee on the island they would soon
have full possession of it. They may possibly be
able 10 devise some feasible plan of reaching it,
outthey must be quick about it if such a movement
3 contemplated. One thing, at all events,
sill have to be done. An army will have to
De sent down to the inland protect it against
he predatory eXcursious--the thieYlsh boat raids
which will re made across the Sound by the Yam
zee pirates soon they establish themselves on
he sand baAk which they have seized.