Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-01-16

-LL9NtAttt , Ae ~No
The Enquirer and its Contems-CoL. Thomas,
of Maryland, Killed at Manassas Tribute
10 the Aypoal-Arriral of French officers in
Richmond.
RICHMOND, January 10, 1862.
Summer has come back to US again. A Their
mometer, in a position which the sun has not
visited to-day, marks sixtythree degrees Of
Fahrenheit, and people are seated by open win
dows throughout the city A week of such
weather will put the apricots in blossom. The
recent rains, however, and the frost coming out
of the ground, have rendered the roads as bad
as they were several weeks ago, and tho "on-
ward movement 81 will be made, if at all, with
some difficulty in the neighborhOOd of Fairfax
Court House.
The telegram we received yesterday from
Memphis, announcing the purpose of the Yam
KEGS to Hberate their penitentiary birds and send
them to the South for purposes of ineendiarism,
would have been considered as purely sensa-
tional, but for the desperate eEpedients already
resOrted to by the Lincoln government. An ad-
ministration which does lot scruple to employ a
stone blockade and which threatens to hang
prisoners of war taken at sea, viii hesitate at
nothing to accomplish its purposes. A grand
scheme of poison and eonfiagration would be
quite in keeping with the diabolical spirit in
which this war against the South has been waged
up to the present moment, and if the United
States pursues It's course of infamy much furth-
e, it viii be declared, by the common consent
of the world, as hestis hHmaHi geHeris. 1t Is not
for us to wait, how sver, for the interference of
foreign powers as a protection against a satanic
warfare. Increased vigilance as to persons per
mitted to cross the lines is imperatively demand
ed by every consideration of safety. Steam fire
engines and halters are the proper means Of de-
tense in such an emergency. Let US endeavor
to keep out the hell-cats if we can, and hang
such as succeed in getting across the border. After
all, the Yankees can send no emissaries here
worse than themselves. Their armies in the field
are made up of the yilest materials that were
ever marched under a flag, and would perpetrate
any enOrmities that the most fendish imagina-
ton could suggest-if We would only let them.
An order has been issued by Gen. Johnston,
banishing all newspaper correspondents from the
lines of the srmy Of the Potomac, in conse-
quence, it is said, of important information hav-
ing been given TO the enemy by letter writers
from the various encsmpments in that region.
The spnghtly Bohemian " Of the Dispatch
brought his correspondence to a close, several
days ago, probably in anticipation Of this order.
"Personne,'' of the Charleston Courier, has
gone to Norfolk, and is enjoying the oysters of
that ancient town. Capt DePonte, of the New
Orleans Delta, is IN Richmond, writing up the
gossip and political and military on dts Of the
capital in his lively way. Whether Gen. john
ston's order viii silence your excellent letter
writer at Leesburg, whose communications have
kept the readers Of the APPEAL SO fully informed
of events in his neighborhood, ] have no means
Of ascertaining. AS his discretion has not been
less conspicuous than bis acuteness of observa-
ton, it would seem that his letters ought not to
be interrupted.
Our daily papers manage, somehow, in spite
Of the blockade and the pause In military ope-
rstions, 70 keep up their interest, and their re-
speetive circulations were never greater than at
the present moment. Tbs E1amiaer has been
making a good fght lately with the rowdyism
Of Richmond, and has brought Town upon itself
in consequence the fierce hostility Of all the
" lewd fellows Of the baser sort in the city. 1t
succeeded, before the theater was burned, in
shutting up the bars in that establishment, and
to It's spirited paragraphs is due, in a great
measure. the reform in the matter of gaming
During the last week, its local editor. Z. A.
Pollard, Esq, has been engaged in a warm con
trsYersy with a character known as Hagan's
John (sueh is MS own elegant style Of writing
his name), who had been detected in black
mailing the free negroes at work on the f%ortiiea-
tons, and who was most properly exposed by
the E1aminsT. "Hagsn's John " attacked Mr.
Pollard in the cOuuting-Toom Of the Office of the
Eraniner and got the worst Of it. There was a
subsequent investigation Of the matter before the
Mayor, which ended in nothing but Mr. Pol
lard's conduct throughout is upheld by all good
citizens, and the course Of the paper in the cause
of order and decency viii make it many new
friends.
The Enquirer is edited with much ability and
prudence, but labors under the drawback Of hav-
ing to publish day after day whole columns of
the proceedings Of the Virginia Convention last
spring and summer, from which the Injunction
of secrecy was not removed till recently. Look
ing for interesting items amongst rubbish of this
sort is like excavating among the tombs, but oc-
casionally one finds something startling as at
Pompeii. This morning, the Enquirer gives us
a report of certain charges of intemperance, etc,
brought against Col. Francis J. Thomas, of
NEa--T.-l u-., ~, ,ous,,4+.v a. nnTor01 h. /
Governor Letcher on the 18th day of June, 1861.
These charges were examined into by a commit
tee and satisfactorily rebutted, but their re-
production now, even to show they were dis
proved, works a pathetic injustice to the memo
ry Of a brave man. Col. Thomas fell at the
head Of his regiment in the battle of Manassas
and lies buried beneath that classic sod, and
the dewy fingers cold" of returning spring
will not deck a more " ballowed mold" any
where upon the wide battlefield, forever conse
crate to glorious memories.
Recurring to the Richmond papers, should
not forget to mention that the Wing of this
morning pays q high tribute to the nauen and
reputation of the APPEAL. You know, doubt
less, that the praise of the EAig is worth some
thing.
Abevy of French naval officers Of the steam
er Cstina, recently arrived in Hampton Roads
with dispatches to foreign consuls in the South
ern States, reached the city this evening from
Norfolk. DIXIE.
Y The Alexandria (La) Democrat, of the
9Th, has the following paragraph; \
The good old days OF 1887 have come on US E
again On Monday the property Of the late
Judge Ogden was sold at public sale. The land G
sold at the low and reduced price of eighty dol Q
per acre. The negroes sold at enormous a
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