Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1862-05-01

TIE news from all quarters is meagre and unsatis
factory that from New Orleans most Of all Of course
speculation about the very peculiar character of the
events which have occurred there is too late for
advice and too early for history We may, however,
remark that unless the Geographic and other reports are
incorrect Themselves incorrectly understood there
must have been surprise panic, and Encouragement on
the part of tie military authorities and if the last
chance for avering the disaster at New ORLEANS
be lost that it will prove to have been lost through this
very cause.
New Orleans has two approaches:-One BY the Missis
sippi the other through Lakes Borgne and Ponchar-
train In spite of the fact that armed steamers
have succeeded 10 running the gauntlet past the river
batteries, 90 army has yet found lis way up the river,
nor is it at all certain that it can, that any supplies
can be received by the enemy long Forts Jackson
and ST Phillip and the other works stand. The feet
may hold New Orleans in its power. 1t may do harm
to private property but it cannot hold, occupy and
possess anything. 1t is like muzzled tiger it may
rend with its claws what it is unable to devour. L
properly attended 10 it might be made to resemble
Gagged tiger.
This chance land not bad one ether,) of limiting
tie extent of the disaster, if not of wholly averting it,
will be totally lost if there be any truth in the hurried
evacuation OF Fort Pike and the dismountiDg of its
guns together with the abandonment of the other works
on the Lake side Of the city Simultaneous with the
evacuation of the city by General Lowell who is said
to have carried bis forces some seVeny-eght miles
away. This would leave open way for Buffers
army to come along without The slightest trouble, the
Forts that might have annoyed bin having been polite
IL removed or ruined, and the army that supposed
to have been organized for the defense of the city hay
ing politely retired,
We d. most sincerely trust that these things may
turn out less uufav0urabe than appears The face OF
them, but as they stand they look badly.
Among the things that the blockade has not shut out
is d" red tape" We want blockade Oh red tape. We
want an embargo on the circunlocution office. The
panic Office is also too widely zen. If all accounts from
the lower Southwest do not lie, then in charge
must have lost their heads and hearts both. 1t is time
surely to do som sthing; to stanl sOmewhere-to see
before abandoning everyjhi g. whether something may
not be held. Surely, not guilty that we ne5d
fly when pursueth, like unto a worthy m 'litia
man at the battle of Bladensburg in the last with
England who without stopping clear into Bati-
more something not very far from thirty miles, aud
when subsequently asked why he nd not look round to
see anyb body after him. rered that he did not
know who was after him, but he would just be ID
| if anyb was ahead of him.
AS for tie few gupboats we have left and the not
many more that we ever did have we never could ex-
pect anything from them while the Navy Department
remains under lis present head 1t is said that at first
the Montgomery Government resolved ignore a na-
Wy. Thinking they need have no navy, they naturally
thought nobody needed Naval Secretary, and so,
to be consistent, they chose MIR. Mallory.
Us for Federal reports we have to divide their SUD-
total by four, and halve that and perhaps may then
arrive at something the proportion OF truth they
contain Our reports must also be taken with
many grains of allowance not that they give too much
but they frequently give too little We do trust that
they have made an for once the side of much
when they report the Lake Forts evacuated The place
at which General L07ens forces are said to have been
brought up, is seventy-eght miles from New Orleans,
Great events are pending in Virginia. upon which
much depends, being little less than the almost imne
date recovery Of the whole State or the almost nme-
date abandonment of it for the present. We doubt
much if this can will be much longer postponed.
The more we think Of it, the more dark and myster-
features does the affair at New Orleans present to
usand we cannot help thinking of it. 1t has no para
lei. The correspondence between the Commodore and
Mayor Monroe will be found in our telegraph column.