Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1862-05-08
Revelations OF the War.


first and most terrible of Southern policy has been
the all but fatal mistake Of ignoring Navy by peo
PIE with a limited development OF mining and manutac
turing resources needing SO many supplies from abroad
and engaged with a highly mechanical people, whose
most vulnerable point and is their commerce. No
country on earth so thoroughly penetrated by large
pavgabe rivers as the States of the Confederacy and
therefore none SO accessible to the light draugh vessels
OF an enemy The greatest and best navigation Oh the
vast western valley is in the South, and the very hfSt
thing the Montgomery government should have a1enu
ed to- was the construction or procurement IN some way
of strong Aotil,as on these waters and the Alabama
Savannah Cane Fear and James apd York Rivers, and
in The North Carolina Sounds and the harbors of Nor
folk, Charleston and elsewhere. The cost would have
been great but nothing absolutely nothing, to the pro-
pefty it would have saved and the uncounabe benefits
it would have conferred. This want we feeling every
day, and now it cannot be supplied:
OF course the Montgomery Government could not
have doac anything in regard to the points in Virginia
aud North Carolina until sometime in last May but 1t
could at The points farther South, and the example OF
the Merrimac shows what might have been done If IN
dertaken at once.
It is also evident that the men in authority placed too
much reliance upon politicianzlng and upon hallway
measures BY poIiticanziDg we do not mean exactly
or hardy at all, what IS known as party politics. We
mean that they depended too much upon influences out
side Of the hard knocks Of war; and for these consdera
tons forbore advantages passed away for ever VI
these the failure to advance after the Battle Of Names
sas is one instance and the whole torpdy defensive sys
tenn is another and standing example. The idea Of
European Intervention was a mistake rather than
error for there were reasons that gave strong appar
en foundation for the calculations which appear to have
been based upon that as a most probable cOnnge c..
Another unpleasant Development is the full grown
proportions which redapism assumed rather which
it Immediately and at once presented for il seems Ike
Minerva to have sprung forth ready armed and Qpped
from the brains of its inroducars not its parents for il
was imported bodily from the purleus Of ,hs Capito
and the bureaus at Washington. In truth we have
imported ready made too much Of the corruption OF that
most corrupt seat Of government with the addition Of
policy Of military management partaking too much
of the voCilation Of the Aulic Council at Vienna,
which parayzed efsctuay the efficient action of the
armies of uatria AID the Empire. This might do for
q consolidated government or for strongly estab-
lished one, but is not suited to a nation whose
powers need to be stimulated to that revolutionary
crgy so essential to success in a cause in which exist
ence itself is involved. The natural tendency of peo-
MOS disosi,ion aud ternnerarant farms the bas onie
IN mint mt the sfva Of warfare ir which they will be
most eracceeGI The natural conrsa If thioos for
man at the Sontb is to peI, ont the man who has in
shifted mr. injured him or who threatens to iniura him
md have Il ont mot avail aea;velv n ha attacked in
u-ed or ospItod Armies are bnt oggreootes Of men
ultipjcafions Of tbe Individual The morale Of the
crr,, i soa+ oiots ri,b,g roroo;vod ord sliIr,uv
made rso Of will he those If the neone comnoaing II
The Southern armies frbt well in the faIdnone bet
te-rpv Is well Bat useless 70 dsgnisa the far,
that thew have not so far done good defensive fobtino
rostons have not baen hoJ with the tcnactv that the
world had been reasonably led to expect ActioD-ac.
tol is the thing necessary to keep up the spirits and
showtLcpr0vess Of troopq The musket and the
bayonct are more efficient IN their hands than the shovel
and the pick but even tae shovel and the pick have not
been 81, remarkably well used. The old definition of
verb ought TO apply in lis entirety to an army" a
word which signifies to be, to do or to suffer" In
fortunately armies have been too much confined to
being and suffering. The enemy makes move and We
move back and sit down before him lie fortifes him
self quietly and we do the same, until after while he
moves again and takes some other place and then IRE
after the thing is done and sit down and look at him
He Las all the pitltiye and with this advantage bis
moves tell. Now is this the way to keep people il
heart? Is it tie way to bring out The strong points
the Southern soldicry? Has not this whole system
been Il mistaIc-has there bpan enonob svr,potby he
tween the government and the people, and if not has
not the failure been on the part Of the government p
The people are sound to the core. They will go to thu
death, and are willing to die fighting like soldiers fol-