Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1862-01-23


make the investigations and gather the nc
ccssary facts. and does not think proper to
make suggestions. or venture upon recon-
mendatons, without the certainty of the
under which he acted being
correct.
Respectfully submitted,
A J.. JARRETT, Comptroller
THE POLICY OF THE CONFEDERATES.
A sEMI-OFFICIAL EXPOSITION.
A Richmond paper publishes from ad-
vance sheets the following article prepared
for DE eBom's Rerieo. 1t is said to be a
semi official exposition of the policy marked
out by Confederate leaders:
The New York Eyening Post, in some
very harsh comments on the conduct of the
Federal officers in crossing the Potomac
with small body of troops, near Leesburg,
lately remarked that the greatest blunder an
officer could make was ''to leave an impass-
able river behind him with an enemy in su-
perior force before him" Not needing the
lessons we tried to teach the Yankees at
Bethel, at Manassas, and the other day at
Leesburg, thoughtless people, among us are
continually complaining that our armies do
not follow the fatal examples set by The
North. and rush headlong into positions
where they would have to encounter supe-
rior force, strong forti6cations and natural
advantages of situation. It's the mob of
the North, and it's mouth-piece. the Press
of the North, that has urged on their armies
to certain defeat
This mob rules despotically among our
enemies. Shall we install it in supreme
power at the South? So far, our President
and all our officers have disregarded the
senseless clamor of home keeping people,
who talk and write ignorantly, thoughtless-
ly and recklessly about the conduct Of the
war, which they comprehend about as well
as they do the Chaldaic language or the
Egyptian hieroglyphics. Out of dangers
way themselves. they do not feel or ca ca e a.
the useless danger to which they wouldSli1i
pose our troops. Our officers. whether vol
unteers or regulars, have exhibited remark
able prudence, skill and sagacity. AS con-
scientious men they have endeavored to gain
victory with little loss of life.
In this they have succeeded, because they
have fought the enemy at advantage, and
never at disadvantage. An army acting on
the defensive, in its own territory, may by
retreating choose its own position for battle.
The invading army must either cease to ad-
vance, give up its project of conquest, or
attack it at disadvantage in the strong posi-
tion which it has selected Where such re-
treat is conducted in good order, the retreat
ing army gathers strength daily from the
surrounding country, and has little Difficult
ty in procuring provisions, because it is al
ways among friends whose resources have
not been exhausted.
On the other hand, the invading army
rapidly diminishes in numbers, from having
daily to detail forces to keep open it's line of
communication with it's base of operations.
Besides, with it the difficulty of obtaining
provisions increases with each advance 1t
must procure them from home, from which
it is hourly receding, for, if the retreating
army has not entirely exhausted the supplies
of the country through which it has passed.
the people are unfriendly, and will not bring
into the camp of their enemies the little that
is left. II they send out foraging parties,
this still further weakens them, and exposes
them to defamation in detail Bonaparte
set out for Moscow with half a million of
men, and, if we mistake not, had little over
hundred and fifty thousand when he arrv-
ed there. Russia, and the whole of North
ern Europe, except Sweden, Norway, and
Lapland, is dead level, interspersed with
towns and villages. It has no natural
strength, and hence in past times conquest
in Europe, with slight exceptions, has
proceeded northwardly. The Confederate
States present greater natural obstacles to
an invading army than any equal area of
country on the globe. Armies cannot march
down our Atlantic coast because of the great
number of bays. inlets, creeks and rivers;
nor down the interior. because of mountain
ridges, impossible roads, sparse population,
and scarcity Of provisions.
The Mississippi is narrow, long, tedious,
and easily defended. and its valley is sub
jcct to overflow. No invading army will
attempt serious invasion in that direction.
1t is cur true policy to decoy the enemy into
the interior. and then to cut them off, as
were Braddock. and Burgoyne, and Corn
wallis, and Ross, and Packenham. and our
own troops in the everglades of Florida
When we have defeated and captured their
armies. exhausted their treasury. and cowed
their spirits by defensive warfare, it will be
time for US to begin to act on the offensive.
and to invade their territory. The North
west is as level a country as Northern Eu-
rope, teens with provisions. and abounds
with towns and villages. Its population is
a spiritless rabble, who have few arms and
know little of their use. and who are endow-
ed with no sense Of personal or national
honor. The Northeast rules them with a
rod of iron, and by its protective tariff robs
them of half the proceeds of their labor. i
They should welcome us as deliyerers from
Yankee bondage rather than as conquerors.
Cincinnati and Philadelphia arc both
weak and tempting points, aud when We