Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-11-02
RIcHNoxp. Oct. 20, 1861.

GUdI on the d0et-HuOOfd0e blgnS an uae ho3ut. W
Europe and in Canada = Qde City iders
alarmed Old and To,rng Ladies DC, &c.
RrcHMcxD, Oct. 20, 1861.
What the Yankee poet. BRYAST. is pleased to call
"the melancholy days, the ssddest of the year."
have come, sut they are go exceedingly beautiful
that sadness seems the very last of their eharac-
teristics. True, the sere leaves are falling fast
from the elms and the lindens the Capitol Square,
and the smoke from ten thousand chmnies rolls its
dark, copious clouds upwards to the bright blue
vault but the sunshine is mild and brilliant,
and the sparkling atmosphere 80 redoent of the ex-
hilarstng principles of oxygen, that it were the
veriest sacrilege not to be content with the great
boon of life, albeit that life is eneompassed with
the trials incident to the mghtiest and most impor-
ant revolution recorded in the annals of time, and
just at this moment, ovsFshadowed by reports of
Yankee yictories-such as the defeat of JEFF.
THoMPsos news of which reached the city but a
few hours ago, and the repulse of MACDONALD at
Romney which some contend is almost an equiva-
lenttor Evans success az Leesburg.
We feel as the frost spirit ihrusts forth his cold
fingers to the brown ree tops and pncnes the with>
cred cheek of the poverty stricken that he Ia but
the herald of the grim king, winter, who comes On
Amain with his snowclal suit of tempests and dis
NAL bleak nights terrible foes Of the poor soldier
| and that now while the sun still shines ard the
rains have ceased. the month of battles has come,
and the cause of the Confederacy, which is the
cause of freedom against an irrepressible law
crushing despotism is to be put to its sOrest trial
We feel that ere the ides of November be past the
Independence of the new Republic will be scknowl
L ID 80 ~ rolso
some tremendous calamity will have befallen Us.
prolonging the war and putting the quick melted
south to the hardest OF tests-patiens endurance
uader defeat and sustained age in spite of ad-
versity. With bated breath Se avian thu result of
the great naval expedition against our coasts, and
the issue of the second battle of Manassas which
many expect daily, and some have already gone up
see among them the distinguished poet and pure
writer, JNo K THOMPSON, from whose graceful
md graphic pen We may expect description of the
battle, (shoud it while he is tiere) far supe-
Tor to anything RUSSELL has done on this side
# the water and Infinitely better than his account
If McDOwELL's defeat, which be saw only as Ton
D -HASTER saw the witches-behind his horses
rump.
Last night. at midnight, the Secretary Of War
As such-was aroused from his first nap by mes
.enger, with dispatch from General on the
Lower Potomac, stating that the enemy had land
cd or about to land 65 0Oamen at Matthias Point
sud asking for fifteen regiments Immediately. The
secretary told the messenger that he sorry the
enemy had acted with such eslerity and impu-
ience, regretted his inability to spare re,
yiment, turned over and resigned himself to Nor
1heus in perfectly placid frame of mind. l cite
on this as 3 single example of the prepos.erous
reports that reach US here.
Touching the missoa of Mr.. BRECKNRIDGs moth
ng further has transpred since my last letter, IN
it be not well authenticated rumor that there
lss been bit of wrhngls b..weea the three d stin
{uished Kentuckians as to which shall be the great
st and which the smallest General II is conced-
ed in judicOus circles that, while the Government
is willing to do all in its power for Kentucky, and
Missouri, its operations in the West must wait on
the impending results al Manassas or rather Centre
vile, for there our army will make stand BEAuRE~
GARD deeming stronger base line of defence than
even Bull Run itself-and upon the coast wherever
he LINCoL>ITE Armada may be destined.
The indications from the North and from Europe
are favorable. All Yankeedom appears to labor
under fit Of indigestion. attended with the char
actsris;ic feverish hypochondria, and produced.
identity, by the seeds of the apple of discord, which
appears to have been infinitely subdivi1ed by Nc
GLELLAN's delay, by the atTocous swindipg of the
myriads OF army contractors, AMI by the high haa
led procedure of that would be Abolition Enpt-
ror JOHN CHARLES FRENOST. Oar cause is gaining
ground steadily in France aud England; whether
in consequence of the limited supply of cotton and
tobacco, or because of the address and diplomacy
of our Commissioners is not necessary to inquire
IT, on the part of the latter anything has been left
undone, Messrs. Mason and SLIDsLL will remedy the
defect right speedily, as we all hope and believe
From Canada we receive assurances of regard and
sympathy, more sircare, because more Intelligent,
and more gratifying thsn from any other source.
A recent article in the Qaebec Morning Chronicle
contains lucid, full and passionate expose of
LINCoLNs outrsges agalns: law aai humanity, than
has appeared in any Southern paper.
Here, in the city, everything is quiet in the ex
IRENE. Our old gentlemen and the young stay at
home club of towards and oilers are much excited
by report that the militia are TO be called out to
msn the guns at the fortifaations. Our youDg Ia
dies are knitting socks our oil ladies are attending
hospitals. PARKE.
| Our PFIsOners-The Cost 80 the Govern
moRt.
| The taking Of prisoners without exchange is be-
coming serious tax upon our Government as ng
consents to support 10 Idleness miscreants who
come here 10 destroy cur property, and im6rue
their hands in our blood. The North is opposed to
| the policy of the exchange of prisoners OF war for
other resons than the punctllO of our recognition
IS belligerents; it has large surplus population
which it is Wiling TO leave us to feed, if take
any prisoners.
Every battle brings US some of this Northern sur,
plus population There can be now scarcely less
than two thousand Yankee prisoners 10 Z chm md I;
tour hundred and nne.y have been sent to New
orleans; one hundred and fifty in Castle Pinck
ney, several hundred in Raleigh and in other places.
| 10 Texas, We are informed there are four or
five hundred more in custody in San Antonio, living
the Government and eating the bre d of idleness
If the Government Will not take measures to
make these miscreants earn their bread in some OF
the various manufacturing ald m schanic4l employ
ments, in which there is such present demand for
labor in the South, it had better at once parole