Worcester daily spy., 1861-11-12
rnrsnAY. NOVEMBER Is, 1sol.
poBT ROYAL AND BEAUFORT,


Ills now beyond question thnt the naval eX-
neditiou has succeeded. 1t has captured all
tbo detenses OF Port Royal harbor and taken the
city of Beaufort, Our troops are on the soil OF
South Carolina, victorious over the attempted
oppositiou. We have the news from North Car
ojna. from Norfolk and Richmond, and from
Memphis, Tennessee. The southern states
appear 10 be full OF it, but the rebel leaders DO
not allow the particulars to come through
their lines. We hear of the capture OF tlree
forts and of "two days fight" at Beaufort, IN
which the rebels suffered severely but for
full and reliable account of what has taken
place we must wait until some vessel comes
from the feet with dispatches. Il seems TO
lis high time for such a vessel to arrive at
Annapolis. If the expedition reached Port
Roval ON the Sunday after it sailed, and cap
tured Beaufort by the Thursday following, we
ought to have the dispatches now but after all,
it is more easy than wise to assert positively
what others should do and when they, ought to
do it, when we are not well informed in re-
gard to the circumstances in which they are
Dlaeed. lie success Vi lills SApSd4tloH 10 ti'S
most important success of the war.
The county or district of Beaufort, in South
Carolina, contained in 1850 nearly six times
as many slaves and free blacks as white per-
sons. The figures of the census were as fol-
lows Slaves, 80, 2,279; free blacks, 579; tree
whites, 5947. Beaufort, on the east side OF
Port Royal habor, is the shire town OF this
district, and in 1850 it had S66 white inhaOi-
tants, and probably twice as many slaves A
large proportion OF the rice produced III the
United States is grown in this part Of
South Carolina In 1850 Beaufort district
alone yielded 47,230,082 pounds Of rice.
The other products are cotton, Indian corn,
and sweet potatoes. The finest Sea Island
cotton comes from this region. 1t is the
wealthiest and most aristocratic part of the
state, and the town of Beaufort has in and
around it around it many beautiful residences,
owned by wealthy gentlemen in that and the
other counties of the stale, and usually occn-
pied by them during the hot weather. Ii was
not possible to strike South Carolina in
tenderer place, unless we could burn the city
of Charleston and fill up its harbor
And ior all practical purposes connected
with the war, Beaufort with Port Royal har
Dor is the most desirable point on the coast
below Hampton Roads. Nowhere else along
the coast is there so good a harbor, and the
army that holds Beaufort Immediately threat
ems both Charleston and Savannah, while it
has an admirable base for operations through
out the whole sauthern country. The success
of the naval expedition, in taking possession
of this place, transfers the war to South Caro-
lima, where it properly belpgs, and can hardly
fail to have moving effect on the rebel army
along the Potomac, as it well require many
more men to defend both Charleston and Sa.
vannah than are necessary to threaten them
successfully, a difficulty which the rebels will
fnd greatly increased ii similar expeditions shall
threaten other portions OF the southern coast.
Wherever ten Thousand mem have it in their
power to strike suddenly at any one of halt
dozen points, sixty thousand men may be
needed to manage a successful defense.
Twenty thousand men at Beaufort threaten
ing Charleston or Savannah, no rebel can tell
which, make necessary tull preparations for
defense at both places, And when those cities
are taken and the interior of the country is
penetrated by the Union army, it will not be
very far from northern Georgia and eastern
Tennessee.
1t is impossible to see how this war with
rebellion can be very long. The rebels can
not repeat such an effort as they have made
during the past summer,-an effort for which
there had been years Of deliberate preparation
and in which the whole power of the secession
states has been employed. Meanwhile the
Union armies are just getting to work Never
again while the war lasts shall we be so weak
and i'll prepared for the contest as we have
been until now. AT the present time we have
great force in the field, and we regard this
expedition as the beginning of series of move
ments that will break down the rebellion and
bring the war to a righteous conclusion.