New-York daily tribune., 1861-05-16
SOUTHERN AHsIRDBTIEs.

To underrate an enemy is foolish busi-
ness but hardly more 60 than to oyerrate
ones self, while he who does both is pretty sure
to come to grief So obvious truth, one would
think. would hardly need to be commended to
anybody, and yet never, outside of an InGan
war party were heard such lalschOods about the
South, such yain-9lorioIa boasts about the SOUTH
as the Southern journals still continue to be
filed with. They absolutely stop at nothing; 10
lie so mOnstrous that they will not Invent or re-
peat it; no vaunt so absurd no cock-a-doodle-
doc 80 shrill that they will not listen to it with
upmxed delight. A st. Louis dispatch OF the
I'd inst to New-Orleans paper announces that
dozen OF the military companies OF Chicago
have refused to take the oath to support the
Lincoln Administration, and have left the ranks.
Private letters from Baltimore, published in
the same city, declare that 1,500 HOrthern
troops were driven back from that city; that
not less than &c, 600 armed men were ready to
repeat the blow il necessary; that F,UoO men,
another says, were under arms, ana I?,OUO " gal-
"hnt guerriIlas (angIce goriilas) beside; thc
Convention bill, says another paper edItorally, IL
passed by the MARYLAND Legislature. owe cannot
ssask more. ii says. "We bad no reason to expect
so much" OF course, then, having gained aIi
this, it will never do to let the State be sub)u-
90 gated by our barbarous aud unreleBting enemy.
That this q" barbarous and unreentiDg enemy
was at that moment in possession ol the Capltai
of the State is fact to which Tie Dtft0 IS
careful to make no alusiOn. Nor will the read
ers of that iocenous print ever know that the
Legislative attempt at sSecessiOn was most
unhsppy miscarriage, that Federal troops have
quietly encamoed on Federal Hill, and that
Baltimore is held at this moment ia most sub
mssiye obedience.
But New-Orleans is no worse than other
places. Tn, Savannah Republican, week or
two ago. entertained aud encouraged its readers
with pleasant story Of the recognition of toe
Southern Confederacy by England aud France,
and Of their determination to Issue protests
against the attempt Of the North to subjugate
the South. And this was not . mere report.
Oh, no! One Mr.. John Sexton, pilot OF the
steamship Florida, who, il is to be supposed, Is
a well.knowu person in Savannah, had arrived
there. not by the Florida, but by the slightly
circultOus" route Of Cincinnati and Nashville,
directly from New.Yotb; aud this statement was
published Just before he left the city in an extra
of The n. \. Times!
But lies like other things grow to an gigantic
size in the South. The soil Of Montgomery is
very rich, as, indeed it should be under the very
droppngs Of toe Capitol. The splendid army
which the South is about TO bring into the field,
if il has not done so already, to meet the
" Northern bordes aud drive them back in con-
" fusion" is made up, not Of hirelpg soldiers,
whose sole purpose in ensting is to secure the
monthly pay ard rations," but they are 90 the
" flower Of the Southern country, gentlemen 10y
Z" birth and educatiou-natures noblemeB--who
" have r,ely offered to pour out their blood and
" treasure on the altar of their country" We
have no disposition 10 dispute this statement.
The tradition is that all the white men OF the
South are gentlemen by birth and education-es-
peciay education--a natures noblemen, all
flowers, though Doue of them, that We have ever
heard Of were "born to blush unseen" But
while we are thus ready TO give fall crcdence to
the old tradton-till We get a new One-we
doubt the wisdom OF the south in undertaking
the Northern enemy, and suggesting comparisons.
The troops who defend the Union, says the
Montgomery paper, will be mustered from the
"purIleus of the cities" they are "the hangers
son of bar-rooms aud gambling dens;" they are
the starving deaizens of oyer-crowded manu-
" featuring villages" men who can Ia no other
way earn Sll month"; and who are not dis
G,k hutn pIv Nish Far nd
Now, if the Southern flowers and noblemen be-
l,eye oil this, the effect may not be good on them.
Surprise il never conducive to presence of
mind, and if the born and educated gentlemen
20 into the field impressed with the idea that
they nave oaly to put to rOut a crowd OF needy
and halfstarsed yaerauts, the oGscouriDgs Of ci-
yzation a horde of ignorant, degraded, and
deprayed wretches, moved by no higher motive
than hundred and thirty-two dollars n year in
money, and regular, though poor yictaals. their
astOnshment may be such on meeting the
men who Nave gone from this city, from
Massachusetts, New-Jersey, Vermont, and other
Northern States, that even their selfpossession
may forsake them, and before they are aware
of it they may find themselves doing so undig,
nified and .bred q thing as to run.
In somewhat the same sort Of talk do they in.
dulge themselves in Memphis Tho language We
find INDUCED in in The 1Ppeat Of that city, is as
elegant as il is forclble, or, in other words, as
forcible as it is elegant. There has been some
handwriting upon the wall" lesible of all men,
and seen even by Northern harpes,' who are
consequently standing aghast The Withdrawal