The Placer herald., 1862-02-08
The Stone Fleet.

power of the belligerents, respectively. Tic
this however, there are some exceptions. Fol
instance, public libraries, and works of art
are always reserved from wantou destruc
ton, and unless it will manfestly contribute
to cripple in some way, the enemy, towns
and cities, are scrupuiously guarded from
destruction by the captors. When these
t, les are violated, it marks the vola.ors, Ms
savage vandals, and history holds them up,
before the world, for its condemnation and
scorn. Marx Anthony, and the Calf Omar,
both burned great libraries in the captured
city Of Alexandria, and the world remem,
bers them for it.. This was done eighteen
hundred years ago, by those We term bar
barians. The city, was then one of vast
commerce, rivaling all the other CONNER.
cial places of that age. If had intercourse
by sea with the outside world, and the cap.
tors did all the damage to the place that the
most rude and unlettered barbarsm would
Poi'''.' ""u Net theoe 'd'udI cuieIS, HeCeT
Mcaght of destroying the harbor of Aleran-
dria. In times gone by works Of useful art,
palaces, cities, and all other public works
created by the art and labor of man, have
been considered proper objects for destruc
ton, but ii has been left for This age and for
the Administration Of Abraham Lincoln to
shock the sense of propriety of nations by
the perpetra'ion of pece of wanton bar.
barism. We have had two bitter cruel wars
with Great Britain. One in which we re
volted against her rule, and played the part
of rebels until she acknowledged us an indie
pendent nations, and one since, growing out
of the previous animosites. As a nation
she did many things that the present gener
alton of Englishmen would and do repud
ate as unwarranted by The laws of war. She
aroused the savages to murder our women
and children,- DESTROYED our towns and
hamlets, and laid our Capital in ashes, but it
never occurred to her most bigoted agents,
that it was right to destroy our harbors.
In all the bitter contests between France
and Great Britain, such an act of vandalism,
was eschewed
The harbor of Charleston is one of the
most ca acious in all the South. For many
miles along that dangerous and stormy
coast the mariner may drift helpless, until
the pilots Of Charleston, lend him succor.
In view of its great Importance it has for
seventy years, been an object of soicilude on
the part of Government and has been more
improved aud better fortified, than any har
Dor in the South. From its central position
among the States of the South it has be
come one Of the most important shipping
! oints, in that region. The State of South
Carolina is in open hostility to our Govern.
ment-a state of war exists between us-and
we would be justified, in overrunning it, and
for the time being, destroying its commerce:
but who ever before heard of DESTROYING
permanently harbor-places shaped by the
hand of the Creator, as haven of security
to the perishng sailor, and for marts of
trade-not only for this generation, but for
those that may come hereafter, and for |
the commercial world. Blockading port
is one thing and destroying q harbor quite
another.
AS war measure. the Administration has
caused vessels laden with stone to be sunk a,
the principal channel of the port of Charles.
ton,- effectualy closing it against naviga,
lion, for all time to come.
We will venture, that for malignancv
and savage revenge, there is no paraIl
lei TO it, in the transactions of nations.
The civilized world will hold it, a record of
shame, making u.s. "a fixed figure, for the
hand of scorn to point its slow unmoviny
finger al" and the American who hereafter
travels in Europe will vail his face in shame
when this monster vandalism shall be spo.
ken Of That fleet of sunken huks, will re
main monument to our disgrace and as
the stately ship passes that coast, in ages
that are to come, the mariners will point
out the act of nation pretending to Chris
tianiiy and higher civilization
The act will prove to European pow ers
that we have no idea of reclaiming The land
within the folds of the Union, and only
seek to destroy that which we cannot subject
to dominion. This opinion once fixed in
their minds, it will not be long before the
Southern Confederacy will be acknowledged
as a separate nationality, and as Govern.
ment lecome a fixed fact among the ma
lions of the Earth.
1t is said, there is another fleet of hulk.
ladened with stone, lowering upon the
Southern coast, destined for the destruction
of some other port. But these transactions
are too disgraceful to justify heraldng by
telegraph, and we only hear Of them through