Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1862-02-20

| III" O'hleuciaIeS refusing TO receive them which.
| however, is now of small moment, as the balance
OF prisoners is now largely in our favor
| -Four hundred released Federal prisoners will
reach Old Point on Friday or Saturday.
--- <S>--
From the Rio hmond Dispatch, Feb. IL
THE CAMPAIGN IN NORTH CAROLINA.
Until within a day two past. the capture
Vt Roanoke Island by Burnside was considered
f)regone conclusion. A feet of nearly hun
ire'l sail aud an army of Is 900 or 10000 men
with guns and equipments in pr"tus'n were
esteemed equal to the capture Of any EXPOSED
pie e of water-bound land like the island l.
question. But the brave resistance offered f,'
nearly two days by our tro"p> and the hopeful
terms in which they spoke of their prospects
r'i our people to believe that the island Nigh,
be held. 1t has. however been lost, aud we ar.
compelled to resign ourselves to the conclusion
which day or two of h,pr-we confess not
strong in our own case-had unsettled.
Burnside has landed, after hard fight, IN p
seaboard island, not as advantayeously situated
nor encnmpasscd by as rich surroundings OF
country as Beaufort. His object is supposed by
some to be Norfolk hut if we are to believe tn.
recent outgvngs Of Northern journals, his lead
ing purpose is to make demonstration agains,
the Weldon and Wilmington Railroad. with q
view to cutting our great line Of Southern com.
'nuncaticn. That thing seems. for the present
to be the especial aim Of the enemy in every
quarter. His movements in Western Kentucky
and Tennessee seem to have that single object
| for the present in view; and it has been repeat.
eddy declared by Northern journals that Burn.
| sides primary purpose is demonstration upon
our railroad 1t remains to be seen whethe,
such be his real desi gn. and with what success.
he will prosecute it. The experience of Sher.
man in similar. undertaking may possibly be
| his own.
| An assault upon Norfolk is the only object
next after this railroad enterprise commensurate
iu importance with the magnitude of the expe-
| ,lition. In such an undertaking the enemy's
| vessels could be of little direct use. The water
approaches to that city from North Carolina are
| too narrow, tortuous and easily obstructed t.,
! admit the use of vessels; and if the enemy at
tempts land attack the chances in our favor
of repelling him are two or three to one. The
| reduction of Norfolk would be the work oil
months. and could only be effected by large
increase of Bnrnsiee's forces, an increase which
tha
an operation stretching through protracted
period. Nothing at all can save their treasury,
and nothing can keep the war on foot but rapid
operations and decisive success. Yet we do not
see wherein the Burnside expedition promises
these results more Enthusiastically than Shermans
did, which landed in November, nearly three
months ago.
Measured by its cost to the enemy, not even
the capture of Norfolk, if it could be effected,
would compensate him for his OUTLAWS, and this
at last is the true standard by which his sue
cesses should be estimated The South need not
expect and cannot nationally expect, that these
huge expeditions, fitted out at immense expense,
should fail to effect any achievement. Fifteen
or twenty thousand men landed anywhere upon
our seabord must succeed in getting possession.
It would be idle to expect otherwise, and imbe-
Gle to be discouraged by the fact. The true
consideration is, whether such successes repay
their cost.
Measured by this standard, the achievements
of the Burnside expedition are not likely to be
very important. Its costs cannot have been
less, in the first instance, than ten millions of
dollars, and its charges every day are at least
quarter of million. It has been thirty-one
days prosecuting it's career to the point of cap
turing Roanoke Island; feat which has cost
the Federal government several millions, indie
penlently of the first outlay in the enterprise,
and the losses incurred by the storm. If the
expedition should succeed in capturing the whole
Of the country besides, together with Norfolk.
still the fifteen or twenty millions of Federal
money laid out in the whole operation would
not be reimbursed by half.
We are not of those who suffer discourage
ment from occasional successes of the enemy
They have far overtaxed the resources of the
North in bringing their prodigous forces into
the field The effect may be to damage us con-
siderably, but they are damaging themselves
much more. The injury they inhct upon US is
local and remedabe; that which they bring
upon themselves in debt and taxation, is gene
RAIL- universal and enduring. They have chosen
gigantic and expensive programme, which
must break down, aud which no successes, how
ever great, can compensate the cost Of
Fort Donelson.
Fort Donelson, just captured by the Federal
forces, is situated at Dover, Tennessee, ON the
south of the northern boundary Of the State.
and was built last summer about the same time as
Fort Henry 1t is located at point where the
river washes an obtuse angle in its northwari
course. 1t is twelve miles southeast of Fort
Henry, which was captured just nine days before
the present victory. The main object OF the
fort was to stand as a rear defence to Bowling
Green, and also as defence against our APP
prnach to Nashville by the Cumberland river.
1t was believed by the Confederates that it Won d
block up efftctualy the passs-e into Tennessee
in this direction. Some seven or eight post
roads here intersect each other. and the railroad
from Bowling Green to Memphis passes hut
four miles south of it. This same railroad, i;
will be remembered, was cut short distance
west, at tile Tennessee river, by the gunboats
Immediately after the fall of Fort Henry, and il
now again destroyed at the crossing Of the Cum.
berland. Fort Donelson controls the river as
far up as ChrksvilIe, where the Confederate.
may perhaps again make stand as we advance
onward to Nashville. At GAINESVILLE they have
Notifications and a pretty strong armament, ane
lately they had there sls> considerable body
Of troops.