New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-08-30
Fighting Capacity q q the ssoutb.

! flShf1n9 Capacity OF tho South.
Communicated TO the New Orleans Crescent.
Mr. Edtor-In your issue Of Tuesday morning,
9th inst, read your refutation Of the absurd and
| ungudrfed assertion Of the New York Herald that
were they" the South, " to gain their independ-
ence tomorrow, they woud be no nearer advanced
to their object The European nations would place
no faith in the stability of government based
upon slsVery as principle !" ETC.; and, with your
permission, ] propose to show from the New York
Heraid's own words uttered last fall, stronger a
fuller and more complete refutation of its argu-
ment nov against the South, than even, if possible,
your article above alluded TO. These are its Words
| its argument: '4f sf'-
| The progress of commerce and trade and manu-
| factures, which, tending to wealth and luxury
| along the Northern seaboard, tends also TO render
Us efeminate and unsuted for war The degen-
eracy of the English population is case in point.
| In the late Crimean war, the recruits raised i'm
the manufacturing towns were from their appear
ance, the laughing stock of the British press
They persisted by thousands from the hardships Of
war, without q shot from the enemy. The pFinei-
| pal part of the fighting was done by the French,
VINO, accordingly, received all the glory. Hereto
fore, England obtained her fighting men from
ireland and the highlands Of Scotland but in
cent years. from the depopulation of Ireland by
I famine and emigration, and owing to the high
prices Of labor and to the fact Of those districts of
5cottand which produced the troops that wen the
field Of Waterloo being cleared OF human fnhab-
itants in order to make room for the vast sheen
walks and deer parks of the Duchess Of Sutherland,
| and other noble philanthropiats, whose benevo-
lence seeks all other objects excepting arfite men,
Great Britain has lost her aalw art hardy warriors
and now, instead of first, ranks only second or
third among the. powers Of Europe. A factory
population, or mechanics, or clerks, or merchants,
or those employed constantly within doors are not
the stuff of which good armies are made. 80 that
great numbers (as for example, in the case Of the
Chinese.) do not always show military strength,
which depends rather on the quality Of the men
than on their numbers "t
That the North has greatly degenerated In mill
itary prowess, while the South has greatly ad.
Vanced, is demonstrated by the incontestible facts
and figures to be found in the official returns of the
War Department. In the war of the Revolution,
Massachusetts, ts-then glorious Mass.-cortributed
more than double the number of men furnished
by any other Colony. She gave 50, ,206 soldiers
| which cannot be altogether accounted for by the
fact that the brunt Of the war was al 6rst on her
own soil. Connecticut supplied 39751; New
Hampshire, IA ,416 Rhode Island, l0,04T; while
New York gave 81 coo; New.Jersey, ls, ,74o; Penn
sylvania, 33, ,l2s; Virginia, 2,0e0,s and Maryland
| 18 600. There were then no Anti-Slavery States.
All the Colonies were slaveholdng States, and all
did well. Now let US come to the war of lS12-15.
By the Northern States were there furnished troops
| which served for three months, IS ,552; by the
Southern States, So lS2; making majority of
37,63O in favor Of the South. How many did Mass
| achusetts furnish in this war? Only 3lI0; while
New Hampshire gave 897; Connecticut 3a7;
Rhode Island, 637 Vermont, ISL. In all, 5l62-
less than little South Carolina, which furnished
|
served in that war were: Virginia, ss,ol7; New
York, s., ,638; Tennessee, "a a58. In the two wars
the troops employed in the armies Of the Republic
numbered 424o00 men--of whom the South fur
nished 287 900; ; more than double the number of
the North which was only 1877 900. -$e
How was it in the Mexican War; Massachusetts,
furnished l047, of whom, only two were killed and
none wounded; and the rest of the New England
States sent not man, except poor Pierce of New
. Hampshire, who was made President fer fainting
on the field of battle. No militia from the North
in thatr r frpns Fnp prhf hx,v
consisting of class of men who will never fight
against the South. The whole number of troops
t contributed by the Northern States was % O54
while the Slave States furnished $780, or very
nearly double. Now, as the Northern States have
twice the population of the Southern, the South
has furnished in the last four times as many
soldiers as the North, in proportion to population.
The fighting element of the country, with the ex-
cepton of New York City, is chiefly in the South.
The Southern population are all fighting men from
their childhood. They are always armed with re-
voIyer and bowie-knfe, or ride. AS for the des-
perate expectation that the negro slave will prove
an element of weakness to the South it is vain. In
all the wars of Greece and Rome with other coun-
tries, their slaves, though white men, revolt
ed against their masters If the negroes even had
e the will, they would not have the means or the
h power. On the contrary, they will prove a grand
source of strength, for they can attend to the cot
ton fields, the general cultivation of the SOIL and
other labor, while the whole of the able-bodied
whites devote themselves to war. How many
+ able bodied men can the North spare to send
| South Not one in three. Vast masses of the
population of the Northern seabord are reduced,
8 practically, to the condition of white slaves, while
considerable portion are sickly and very ant for
: the army. E5|
: The South is therefore perfectly able to main tain
: the contest. What she wants most is navy. But
: she can build one in the Mississippi, and in the
f meantime she can employ feet of privateers, as
t did the Colonies against England in the Re7ou-
| tionary war, which will do the commerce of the
b Northern States more injury than our war ships
S can ever indct on the Southern seaboard.
Now. sir this article. coming aS it does from the
n columns OF that most notorously ueracsoas of
| Northern journals, the New York Herald, would
/ have no force, would be entitled to no respect,
were it not based upon facts embracing the most
eventful periods of our country history and show
ing, as it does in a most triumphant manner, that
the South, from first revolution down to the
present time, her slavery principle nclnded, has
shown herself preeminently worthy of the respect
; and confidence of European nations, but more es-
pecially now, in her present glorious struggle.
|