Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-12-14
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Change Telegram from gen HogrHdcr Con-
cc,riug an Ery,cfei Battle at Forlfor7n- Death
Of the Gambler, HOrsbam-No Gos-jghts m
Richmond gftcr y O'cloeL d. Night
RICHNOND, December @. 1861.
Perhaps the most striking thing about Lin
coins message is the entire omission. of any
reference to the arrest of the Confederate com
missioners to England and France, Oh the high
seas. We may excuse Old Abe for not aliuding
to Bulls Run and Manassas to Belmont and
Leesburg. These were lachrymose subjects,
calling for tears, and the eloquence Of iamen.a-
ton, and the tragic muse sits not at the Prssi-
dents elbow, nor is an annual message to Con
gress the proper place for the Indulgence Of
mournful reuospectOns. But it seems unac-
countable that no mention should be made of so
important a matter as the capture of Messrs-
Mason and Slilell And not only is perfect
silence preserved with regard to it in the mes
sage-the Secretary of the Navy manifests an
equal reticeuce upon this interesting point
Congress is yet in official ignorance of the fact
Though the commissioners are safely
shut up in Fort Warren and Capt Wilkes has
been feted for his heroic achievement, in the
northern cities, the national Legislature sitting
in Washington have not been informed in any
manner Of this possible causus 5eif with great
foreign power The only explanation that sug-
gests itself to your correspondent is that Old
Abe, yielding to the cautious counsels OF slppe-
the international question until he hears what
course the English government intends to pur-
sue for the detention Of the Trent and t0rcib.e
seizure of her passengers. If Great Britain,
false TO all the traditions of her history, shall
submit quietly to the outrage, then the Wssh-
ington despotism viii be encouraged to avow
the act and vaunt its superiority over the pow
ers of Europe if, on the other hand, a per
emptory demand should be made for the sUIren-
der of the commissioners and an apology for
the manner of their capture, the opportunity viii
be left for disavowing the conduct of Capt.
Wilkes, and making a virtue Of necessity.
What else the marked silence of the message
can mean, I am at a loss to conjecture.
ne EDN lS-NL4al hNLatAAAe-FsN A N--4
session and no publicity is given to their pro
ceedings. They have been occupied Tor several
days past, however, in discussing change in
the system of Confederate weights and measures.
The decimal mode Of calculation has many
friends-the same which has been adopted in
France and brought there to such perfection
Whether they viii agree upon this or establish
some modification of the old system borrowed
from England, we shall learn after while. The
method of computing distances, Of measuring
grain salt coal, etc, and of ascertaining weight
to which we have been accustomed, is exceed
ingly cumbrous and irrational and has nothing
whatever but usage to recommend IT, There is
no reason, whatever, why twelve ounces should
make a pound, none why 1860 yards should
make a mile But there is an excellent reason.
that Of uniformity and exact proportions, why a
thousand gTammes should make a kil0gramme
and a thousand metres a kilometre. A change
in the system Of ofCoufedersts weights and mea-
sures is strongly recommended by another inn
portau. consideration, apart from that of con-
vonience We should enleavor as much as pos
sibie TO widen the breach, already iuepUab.e,
between the Yankees and ourselves, by a total
change of institutions. If by some miraculous
Babel we could confuse the tongues again, and
hit upon another language, as copious, as rich,
as flexible, as majestic as that of Milton
and Shakespeare and Chatham, it would be iutu-
itely desirable for us to Use a different speech
from that used with nasal interuatious by
our hated enemies. This, perhaps is not SO
important when We consider that the Yankees
Herer did write from the pure we'll of English
undefled never did employ the u1aiultsratrd
mother tongue Of Westminster Hall aud the
British pulpit. 4 more striking e1emplihcation
Of this truth could not be afforded than we find
in Old Abe's message, which is enough to make
William Pinkney and John Randolph turn over
in their graves. The purists have died out north
of the Potomac. But while we cannot change
our idiom, we can say that hereafter a southern
pound shall not be the Yankee pound, nor "a
southern mile the Yankee mile so that the
stranger, the moIzent be crosses the boundary,
shall see tn at he has entered new country,
totally differing in ali its modes Of life It's con-
veDtionalisms, and its social babitujes from the
Yankee nation he has left behind him.
There has been fresh excitement to-day ia
consequence Of the receipt of telegram from
Gen Magruder, announcing an intended attack
on Yorktown by body of Yankee troops
10000 strong, recently landed at Newport
News. There is no mistake about the telegram
as your correspondent saw and read it himself
Several officers, belonging to regiments now in
the Peninsula, who have been in Richmond for
days past on leave, have also been ordered back
Immediately. We may reasonably doubt how
ever, whether the force is as large as Gen. Ma
gruder supPoses. And tits by no means certain,
that the Yankees viii venture to give him battle
in his entrenchmsnts. But the attack may be
intended to be simultaneous with the attempt on
Winchester, the bombardmeut of the works at
Evansport, tie advance on Ceutervile and the
movement upon Columbus, all Of which have
been threatened for some time past. am more
confident now, than have ever been heretofore
Of future events, that before Saturday night
you will hear startling ncws
One of the gamblers engaged in the duel Of
Saturday, of which wrote you in my last letter,
Worsham, died yesterday morning. The other
is considered in very dangerous condition
The city is very quiet and slumberous in the
hazy Indian summer sunshine which we have
had for several days But very much fear the
public morals and tranquility are not likely to be
improved by a recent order of the gas committee.
The street lamps are now ez tinguisbed at mid
night If it be true, as has been said, that one
gas lamp is worth halfa-dozen policemen, the
of this order will be seen abun-
dantly in the criminal courts before the winter is
over. DIXIE.
PASS HIM RouND.-We take pleasure in re-
cording instances Of true patriotism aud geuer-
Gus deyoiion-and the more so because we know
that citizens who exhibit such conduct do not
expect or seek publicity. Charles B. Rouss, Of
Winchester, Va, dispatched an agent lately to
the salt works in Southwestern Virginia TO buy
5ue thousand sacks Owing to the destruction
Of bridges and other causes, the order was de
aged, aud the following correspondence will tell
he story:
STRAsBURG, November ., 1861.
c. B. ROUsS: There are one hundred sacks Of
salt here of yours, and / am offered one thousand
ioiLars for it. Answer JOHN FLEMING.