Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-08-28
MEMPHIS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, Is
THE LONDON TIMES ON THE BAT.
TIE Of MANASSAS.

TIE OF MANASSAS.
From the London Times, August 81
The curtain has risen for that tragedy which
our kinsmen across the Atlantic have prepared
| for the scandal Of free institutions. A great
| battle has been fought-fought between men
OF common origin, common language, and
common sympathies. A battle, such as might
have happeked between Turks and Greeks, be-
tween Germans and Magyars, between Ital-
iaus and AustTians, between Poles and Rus
| SLAMS, has been fought bearing on each side
| Anglo-SaxoR names, and proud to claim com
/ mon lineage with our own fathers. It is as
! if we heard of a great battle upon the East
and West Ridings Of Yorkshire. 1t is much
nearer to US than the atrocities of our own
| border warfare, when the Moss troops carried
| fire and sw0rd down TO the walls Of Carlisle,
and were beaten back with Tout and slaughter
| BY the Lords Of the Marches and their stout
TetaineTs.
] Those events were but the normal condition
oe an unquiet land, and those contests were
! between men claiming a separate nationality.
I But here for the first time, we have brother
| hood of near hundred years sp it asunder by
| one great schism and joining in senseless
| and bocdy strife. Here we have the muster
| ing Of fighting men, the irruptiOn, the quick
occupation of territorYrby fierce invaders, the
| eespeFate attack upon the first stronghold in
! the way, and then the check, the surprise, the
| overwhelming attack from ths hidden enemy,
! the sudden panic and the headiong rout; but
all with a deliberate and deadly purpose far
| more serious than in our border battles. They
were fought comparatively from gaiety of
heart, from love Of fighting, from habit of
! fighting, but first and principally for hoFe of
plunder days hunting on the Chevoits
/ was excuse enough; and as we made our
cause Of battle lightly, we composed our strife
easily.
This is not the war the far-away descend
ants Of these men have been waging. II is
not barbarous sport akin TO an exaggerated
| cudgel-rBatch, upon village green; it is
Gerce, deadly, fatal civil war, where every
wound is the source of luXuFisnt hatreds, and
where every victory is but necessity for fu-
! ture death struggles. What we English have
all hoped against hope would never come to
kpsss has now occurred. The two hosts Of
| this sundered republic have for the first time
| ioined in conflict, and the frst of score Of
varving victories has Inclined to the South.
! The northern levies have fed panic stricken
and disorgauized before their brothers, leaving
! their arms, their artillery and their stores be-
hind them. They have lost all-even their
military honor.
! Let us examine how this happened. In the
| early days OF this rupture Mr.. Jefferson Davis
and his followers had foolishly, bandying per-
| haps boast for boast across the Potomac,
promised that the Confederate flag should float
/ over the capitol. Upon this the ferv cross
went through the Northern States, and to
| Washington, as to the only point where the
challenge was to be accepted, every railway
| bore its thousands, until the city obtained
more half-disciplined soldiers than it required
/ for its defense or could sustain from its re-
sources. Stores and arms came more slowly
M, and behind all came the hot blasts OF popu-
lar ardor, ealing for the blood of the southern
| insurgents, and the fierce invectives OF the
empty northern press denouncing the inactiv-
! ity Of the generals who had to organize taeir
raw levies. Under this pressure the .roeps
which crowded Washington were pushed for
ward over the Potomac river, which runs in
front Of the city, and into the enemy's country.
These levies at first marched with caution
which seemed TO give the world confidence in
the prudence Of the commander who was d.
recting their movements. On the opposite side
to Washington, and little lower down the
stream, stands Alexandra, whence the rail-
| ways branch forth which ramify through the
South, The overfoving garrison at Wash
ington had swarmed across the river, had oc-
copied Alexandra, and with scarce show of
opposition had, step by step, cautiously pos
| sessed the enemy's country for about twenty
| miles along the line Of oLe of the railways.
] What there was beyond no one seems to have
known. Os course they were aware that if
they advanced far enough they would arrive at
the mountains, which in two ranges lie behind
but how the country was occupied was an en-
| tire mystery.
That Confederate army lay somewhere he
| tween them and the mountains was a strong
| probability, and this seems to have been the
| extent of their information. But there was
/ the whole power Of that uncomfortable pop
ular voice, shouting through ten thousand
newspapers believing behind the great north
ern army. Why bad the people Of the United
! States voted S400, 1000 and 100000 men if
! Gen. Scott was not Immediately to sweep the
I whole WhIte population of the rebel South
! into the sea Possibly Gen. Scott NAV have
| known that the chances in a conflict between
undiciplined troops must always be with the
| side which remains on the defensive He NAV
! have foreseen that the trained officers he had
/ to act against would be likely TO keep their
/ hslf-dri,ed men behind lines of Notifications,
where they would fight as we'll as the best
veterans in the world.
Bat, whatever he may have known, he gave
way to pressure or impatience. On the morn
ing Of the 2ist Of July the whole of the federal
army-we are not told their numbers, but hey
were supported BY their artillery, rifled cannon
and the Rhode Island battery-advanced along
the plain country, intervening between the
! Orange and Alexandria railway and the high
EOdus 1ueJ seem 10 nave QaQ the railway
upon their left and the road upon their right.
Three miles from the Manassas Junction, so
often mentioned in previous descriptions of
the country, is station on the railway called
the Bull Run station, where there are some
mills, and where also a stream falling from the
Bull Run mountain crosses the country, inter-
secting both the road and the railroad
We can very well understand that this place
/ might have been made into very formidable
I h.,
their enemy. Il would appear probable that
Gen. Beauregard, having the stream in front,
and a road and a railroad on his fanks, had
used these facilities TO their utmost The half
disciplined army Of the North, coming sud
denly upon his lines, appears TO have rushed
fmpetuously against them. We are told by
the telegram that they attacked them FOR nine
hours, and succeeded at the end of that time
; in carrying three OF the batteries. At the end
CT nine hOurs-we are commenting upon the
northern account-the Confederate army, re-
/, inforced By fresh corps of twenty-fiv.
thousand men, attacked the Union army and
drove them in disorder from the field
Then happened what so frequently happens
even to the best troops. Their impetuosity
bad been checked; they had found the enemv
too strong for them; from confidence and exui.
tation they had passed to despair They had
become disorganized, and they were being shot
down DV Jlelf enemies DeGld the rampartg
p Then came the charge of the fresh southern.
ers, and before it they fed like chat. They
fed, it is said, to Alexandria, on the banRs Of
the Potomac-that is, nearly to Washington
mere than twenty miles away. For twenty
miles, therefore, in the southern heat, along
that thirsty road they rushed, casting arm,
and sceoutrements away, and earnest only Z
escape the avenger. At Fairfax, which il
half way, their general tried to rally them
but in vain. The southern pursueTs were II
view, and they fed from the town and started
again on their disastrous fight. Gen. Beaa
regard here recalled his troops, and the wrecl
Z Of the army, which was so confident in th,
morning, skunk back, beaten and unarme,
rabble, falling away by fatigue, but withou
any further molestation from the enemy.
Il is complete victory-as much a victor
as Austsrlitz. All the incidents Of defea
) are frankly stated in the New York telegram
= All the artillery, arms, stores, and small arms
have been captured by the Confederates. An.
: now what next? No one can hope that this i
one OF those victories which produce peace
2 There VIII be shouts Of eXultatlon all over th
+ South, and there will be frenzy all over th
d North; but we cannot hope that there will b
! any thought of peace. We may be sure tha
e the hrst thought will be for revenge. we vii
i make no remark upon the number Of casultie
o recorded, except to say that other telegram
have arrived vyyhich D, l.