Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-03-27

feeling as we get at, We infer that the
most intelligent portion of the people, the
leaders of the rebellion always excepted,
are in the state of mind that bully ex.
perieuces when he has been souadly
whipped and knows be must yield, but
yet hesitates. The following letter, writ
ten by Louisiana Major to his sister in
New Orleans, and found on tue battle field
at Pea Ridge, Arkausas, shows a good APP
probation Of the military position, aud
that the Febels= begin lO-eOrrect thsirslows
estimate of Yankee pluek-and that is
really main point gained:
..Dssr .Sistsr Clara You asked me 10
your last letter what thought of the
prospect of our dearly beloved cause. To
be candid, have little hope for its sue.
cess now, though last December felt con-
6dent we would be recognized before the
coming June l don't like the Yankees q
bit; l have been educated 10 hate them,
and do hate them heartily; but must
acknowledge the South has been sadly
mistaken In their character. We have al
ways believed that the Yankees would not
/ fight for anything like a principle; that
they had no chivalry, no poetry in their
nature. Perhaps they have not; but that
they are brave, determined, perseVering,
they have proved beyond question. The
trouble with them is that they never get
tired of anything. They lost all the bat
\ ties at first, and after Manassas we despised
them. This year has inaugurated a new
order of affairs. We are beaten at all
points. We do nothing but surrender and
evacuate; and while hate the Licolnites
more than ever, l respect them-T can't
help it-for their doggcd Obstiuacy, and
the slow but steady manner in which they
carry out their plans. l have lost heart in
our cause. There is something wrong
somewhere. JEFF Davis and our political
leaders are either knaVes or fools. They
| drew us into our present difficulties, and
! now have no way OF showing us out of
I them. If the South had known what
would have been the result of secession,
no State unless South Carolina, would
have gone ont OF the Union. We all
thought we could go out in peace know
did, and laughed atthe idea of the North
attempting TO keep us in the Union by
force OF arms"
There is a similar compelled tribute to
Yankee valOr and persistence in the fol-
lowing paragraph of letter from Rich
mOud to the New Orleans Creseent:-
"YOu will naturally, desire to know how
the people in the confederate metropolis
sand these trying times-for it is evident
that We are not safe in these days of light
daft gGnbOats and high water. answer,
in the main, we stand it very well. Some,
TO be sure, are doWn.heArted, and nobody
wears as broad a grin as they did the day
aiIer the battle of Leesburg. Still there Is
universal determination to do or die-to
go down. if need be with our harness on,
warning like brave people to the last.
passed Gen. Wigfall on my return from
dinner, and asked him If there was any
news. No. said he, Il don'C believe we
have been whipped since dinner; Iexpect,
though, to hear of another defeat in the
next five Minutes SOmhow can't help
thinking of Halleck' 8 assertion by telegraph
to Mcclellan, that the Union flag is on the
soil of Tennessee, never to be removed
This is brag, but the Yankees have, up to
this time, stuck like leeches wherever they
have effected u landing. They iutrench
themselves. and at the first spade-full 'Of
earth thrown mp by them, our generals
give right up and say all is lost They
lave attacked US repeatedly in trenches
and forts, and carried the latter Invariably,
while We, with the exception of the St.
Nicholas affair and few others, have not
done daring thing through the whole war.
|
Yankees and ourselves is that they follow
up their victories, while we squat down in
our tracks the moment a battle is ended
This is shameful fact, which disheartens
me more than anything else. have no
hope now in anybody but God and Bean
regard"
1 There is another feature that is auspi-
cious. The southern people begin to find
out that the rebellion is an affair of the pc.
litical leaders, and not of the southern peo-
pie generally. The Nashville Banner says
that Gov. FOOte, expressing himself in the
Confederate Congress, in opposition to SCI
eret sessions, said, ''He didn't intend to
have any more Of them. This revolution,
be said, thus far, had savored too much of
4 revolution of leaders and not of the peo-
pie" ale uttered great truth, . says the
Banner. ''The leaders have had every
Thing their own way, aud the masses Of
the people have only participated to the
extent that their services or means requir-
ed" FOote himself is one of the most gull.
~ of the leaders, who deceived and misled
the people into the war upon the Uuion.-
PC 'O'u 1ueIl ~ H1Ou'sOtHety1 at lne nrst
outbreak of the rebellion, that the Yankees
would not eight. Perhaps he believed it.
At any rate the people generally believed
it, or they would not have gone into Sc
cessiOn At all, as the letter from tue Lou
isianH officer, quoted above, frankly con.
fesses.
/ The lOng-standing dispute in DR.. Chez
yer's church respecting the validity of
the election of the acting board of trus-
tees has been settled by the Circuit Court
Of New York. JudgeJam in effect de-