Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-08-25


over. and when the God bless mel you
don't gay so?' had been said we think we
urver heard of a battle in which Is. 900 men
i seem tn have been Engaged on each side, and
/ which fell so blank upon the public ear, aud
! engaged so little European interest. The
1 fact il. we do not like tn iaugh, and the
scene of the ridiculous comes too strongly
over as when we would be serious. II is
/ great battle without the dignity of danger
or ihe painful Interest of great carnage.
/ There are all the ridiculous incidents of stark
fear and rabid terror. without much real peril
and with very little actual suffering. We
begin to feel that We have been cheated out
| of our sympathies.
When this broke out we English all
| pictured to ourselves two earnest sections
ot The same population interlaced in mortal
| combat, warning to the knife and to the
death. We received by every mail little
samples of an atmosphere of blood and thun-
der and war and wounds. All America
appeared To- us, poor dupesi like fresh ex-
/ ploded mine-all smoke. and fragments. and
! Torn limbs. We fancied our kiusmen reck-
| less, furious flying at each Others threats,
| and Careless of their own safriy. AT the
| same time that they were shaking their
knives 1T each other. they were shaking their
| fists at u.s. We trembled for what we We're
| f4led to see. We held our breath for the
| first shock of battle between these two young
/ giants. We shut our eyes against the deadly
struggle. We are ca!mer now. We are ali
caimer. We are satisfied with these wariIke
| athletes, who We're issuing such dire threats
! against any one who should dare to Offer to
separate thaea are not SO very reckless Since
| their disseasions have assumed 1.-THE eharac-
ter of open war, they have been carried on
i'npon strictly humanitarian principles.
If We are to believe the American press. an
| American battle has never yet been so dan
| gerous AS all American passenger boat, and
| not much more so than American railway.
| The hostile forces she'll each other out of
strong fortress;.s without losing single life
| They fight a BATH: in Western Virginia
! which determines the fate OF district at the
| expense of less than a score of casualties;
aud great stand up battle is fought between
! $50 900 men, ending in psnic sad twenty
| miles run; aRd when the Grand Army of
| the Potomac" reaches Alexandria, the New
| York Herald reports that 1.-The killed on our
/ side will be between three and five humid
| red
| 1t is very difficult TO guage the solidity of
| anything Amerlc2n-even of a great battle.
| We know that there was great rOut in front
| of that gap which runs up into the hills, for
| We were represented in the ruck, and may
say that we it with our own eyes and
| heard the cannonade with our own ears
| There is probability, also, that the number
| of men present at the battle mounts to the
| high figure of 10000 for both accounts seem
| to agree upon this. Beyond these facts,
however, everything seems vague aud uncer-
tain.
The advance of the Grand Army of the
| Potomac" reads in the American papers like
| a burlesque of the progress of Xerxes to The
| Hellespont. The great Federal victory OF.
| Bull Run, whic CHI was Fl tshed over the North
| ern States and recorded in the Northern pa
| pers, was thing lowering for hours, while
| yet in print upon the confines of fancy and
possibility. The abjact rOut, the ultimate
reality, was what We could have least bcliev
ed. Perhaps we ought to have anticipated
| that the same ferocious men who had burnt
mp the hOmesteads on their line of march
would speed back over the embers with pale
faces in their panic flight. But this never did
| occur to Us. 1t requires the testimony of the
Americans themselves and the witness of our
own correspondent to suggest to US that u.s.,
900 American patriots fed for twenty miles
| in an agony of fear, although no one was pur
| suing them. and that IS 900 other American
patriots abStained from pursuing these IS.
900 enemies because they were not informed
how stark frightened these were. Even the
artillery were not captured, but picked up
The guns were left behind because they i'm
peded the flight OF the artillerymen, and they
might have been to great extent carried off
if The apprehensions OF the gunners would
have allowed them to take advantage of the
ready to afford. On the other hand. our cor
respondent thinks that the panic had gone 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
unresisted into Washin gton City itself All
that the Northern press says upon this SUBJ
ject is 10 congratulate themselves that the
enemy did not know in what fright they
were.
This is 10, our account Of tbs 5ufHe Il Is the
american account. Il is The account Of the NeU
York pIpers. alternating they do beftnse shrieks
of u, Of dgOny, and Of Utsdict,Oe despair II
they have only lost between three hundred
and five hundred men, it seems to as to be a
very cheap lesson. See what theshave gain
ed by it. They have found out now that the
spirit of patriotism, and even the instinct of
combat, does not prevent Northern volun-
teers from going off in body under pretense
of their time of enlistment being up, although
the morning of the combat may be come and
the cannon may be sounding in their ears
They have found out also that even North
cru army can, without much good military
reason given, lose its attraction OF cohe sion.
aud dissolve into a mob. They have also
found out that the Soutternes are MOI TO be tvqlhed
ouer like a partridge manor, and that they hare
some military heads among hsm
OF course, we must expect them to meet
these hard facts by certain quantity of blus-
ter. They must call out few more millions
of volunteers, and they must make conf
dent demand upon an incredulous world for
few more hundred millions sterling. But
behind all this there must rise a gathering
doubt that this Southern nut is too bard to
crack and that the military line. az a matter
of business. does not answer The North has
now made lis experiment. and not only has it
not answered, but the process has not been
encouraging. AS matter OF habit and to ease
the American mind, certain quantity of
threats and tall words may be necessary and
they may pass. But they will be of sma II
avail against the facts as they now stand In
the face OF the picture of that screaming
crowd-lhe Grand Army of the Potomac,
&c.-these great words from the expectant
gentleman at Washington lose their every
charm.
These people do all in their power to alien
ate our sympathy, for they are amenab;e
neither to courtesy nor to misfortune. Moth
ing civilizes them. They seem to think that
at all seasons and upon ali occasions Eng
land is safe target for their insults and
threats. They either feign very well or else
they positively think they can influence our
policy by their buster. There was a moment,
on the 21st of July, when victory was sup