Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-08-27
Eject OF, tho Retreat from Bull Bun In
E~nQlandAAn Advice for RcoOMcNlo.

! Eject OF, tho Retreat from Bull Run In
E~ogland-An Advice for
fFton tho Lnatna Tins. AugutL
"Ihe discussions which arose some montns
ago in the United States Of North America
have unfortunately assumed the character OF
open war" r-
Such is the tranquil comment of tho royal
speech upon the events in the New World which
hare fallen 50 unexpectedly upon the eGr Of
Europe. Our Queen has reflected with an ex'
cellent fidelity the feelings Of her people
After the first surprise was oYcr, and when the
"God bless Tie you don't say sou had been
said, we think wo never heard OF . battle in
which IS, 900 men seem 10 have been engaged
on each side, AID WhichJ fell SO blank upon the
public ear, and engaged 50 hthe European
interest," The fact il, that We d. not like to
laugh, and the seDsc OF the ridiculous comes
100 strong over US when VIC would be serious.
It is u great battle without the dignity Of
danger or tho painful interest Of great carnage
There are all the ridiculous incidents 81 'terk
fear and 71Gia tsrTog, Hitl!2HL much real peril
and with very little actual Suffering. We oe:
gin to feel that sc have been cheated out OF
our sympathies. When this war broke out we
English all pictured to Ourselves t~o earnest
sections OF the same population inter!aced IN
mortal combat, warning to the knife and 10 the
death. We received by every mail little sam
pies Of an atmosphere OF blood ard thunder,
snd war and wounds. All Amcrica appeared
to US, poor dupcs, Ike y fresh exploded
rnine-all smoke, and fragments, and torn
limbs. We ts1cied our %klnSner, reckless,
furious, iJing at each others throa!s, and
careless If their own safety. At the same time
that they were shaking their knives at each
other, they were shaking their fists at U.s.
We trembled for shat we were fated to see.
We held our breath for tho first shock OF battle
between these two young giants We shu:
our eyes against the deadly struggle We arc
calmer now. We are 81! calIner. We are sat
isted that these warlike a!blets, who are issu.
ing such dire threats against any sne who
should dare to offer to separate them, are Hor
80 very reckless. Since their diSstntionS have
assumed "the character vi open wer" they have
been carried on upon strictly humanitarian
principles IT we are to believe the American
press, an American battle has never yet been
80 dangerous az IN American passenger boat,
and not much moro so than an American rail
way. The hostile forces she'll each other out
of strong fortres ses, without losing q single
life. They fight a battle il Western Virginia
which determines the fate Of a district 1t the
expense Of less thana score of casualties ard
@ great stand up battle is fought between
$50, 900 men, ending in d panic and o twenty
miles run ; and when tie grand army OF the
Potomac" reaches Alexandria the New York
Herald reports that 'the killed on our side will
be between three and five hundred"
It is 7ery difficult to gauge the soiidity OF
| oo,,tE;r- 4 oaru,,@ o-np ,F -, noe l,r,l.
We know that there was o great rout III
front of that gap which runs up into the hills.
for we were represented il the rick, and MAJ
say thst We saw it with OUT o~n eyes ard
heard the cannonade with our own ears. Tiers
is o probability, also, that the number e men
present at the battle amounts to the high
figure Of $50, 600, for both accounts seems to
agree upon this. Beyond these facts, however,
everything seems vague and uncertain. Tie
advance OF the grand army Of tie Potomac"
reads in the American papers Ike a burlesiue
Of Xerxes to the Hellespoint. The great fed
ersl victory Of Bull Run, which was flashed
over the Northern States and recorded III the
Northern papers, Wcs q thing lowering Ter
hours, while yet in print, upon the conf leg OF
fancy and possibility. 7Nsahject 'out, The uli.
mate reality. rds GIat nee could hace least %.
lieped. Perhaps ~e ought to have anticipated
that the same f~erocious men who had burnt
up the homesteads on their line ofmarch would
speed back over tho ernbers with pale
faces in their panic light, But this never
did occur to US. 1t requires the testimony
Of the Americans themselves and the witness
of our own correspondent to suggest 10 Us
that Is, 600 American patriots I'D fUr
twenty miles in an agony of fear, although no
one was pursuing them, and that 70, 900 other
American patriots abstained from pursuing
these 70 900 enemies because they were not
informed how stark frightened these were
Even the artillery were not captured, bnt pick
ed up. The guHs we're left behind because
they impeded the hight Of tho arliIlerymen,
and they might have been to u great extent
carried of If the spprehenslons OF the gunnc-s
would have allowed them to take advantage Of
the leisure which the prudent conqneror vas
so ready to af ,rd. On the other hand, our
correspondent thinks that the panic bad soas
so right to the heart Of the North that if Gen.
Beauregard had the enterprise to follow up his
advantage, he might have gone almost unTe
sisted into Washington city itself. All that the
Northern press says upon this subject is to
congratulate themselves that the enemy did
not know in what a fright they we're.
This is not our account Of this baltic. /; is
the American account. Il is the account Of
the New York papers, alternating as they DO
betSee shrisks Of victory, of agony and Of
vindictiYe despair. IF they haze only lost
between three hundred and Ave hundred men,
it seems, to Us to be q very cheap lesson. See
what they nave gained by it. They have
found out nor lhat the spirit of patriotism,
and even the instinct of combat, docs not pre-
vent Northera volunteers from going of in q
body, under pre,c.ce Of their time being up,
although the morning OF the combat MAJ DC
come and the cannon may BIO sounding in their
ears. They have found out, also, that even q
Northern army can, without much good mill.
tary reason given, loose its a~ttractin for cohesion
and desolge into a mob. They have also found
that the SoulhcrneTs Gre not TO be walked
over Ike g partridge manor, and that they have
nilifa"r heads among them. or course.
we must expect them to meet those hard facts
by a certain quantity Of bluster. They mus:
call out few more MILLIONS Of volunteers, and
they must make e confident demand upon an in.
credulous world for a feT more hundred millions
sterling. But behind ell This there mus: rise
4 gathering doubt that this Southern nut is
too hard to crack, and tina: the military line.
as a matter OF business, docs not answer. The
North has now made its experiment, and not
only has it not answered, bnt the process la,
not been encouraging. Az & matter Of habit,
and to ease the American mind, o certain
quantity Of threats End tall words may ne
ne cessary, and they may pass. Bat they viii
be Of small avail against the facts as they now
stand. In the FAC. Of ,he picture Of thu.
screaming cro~d-lhe graad army Of the Pc,
toInac, &c.-these great words from the eSpec
tant gent!emsa N Washington lose ever:
charm.
These people DO al. in their powcr lo alien
ate our sympathy, for they are anlensbie neither
t. courtesy nor misfortune Nothing civil
ICES them. They seem to think that at all
ind upon all occasions England is a
safe target for their Insults and their threats.
They either feisn Ecry we'll, or else they posi-