Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-05-06
Aifhmau0 Enquirer;
BY TYLER, WISE & ALLEGRO.
SATURDAY MORNING. WAY 8, 's2
\ Gro,vl Mt thu GROWERS.

4 GroIvl Mt tn % GroW1ers.
The city of Richmond contains many refu-
cccs-citizens and families who have left their
homes to escape the neighborship or DONNA
ton of the enemy's forces. Many Of these are
fresh from their sacrifices of home comforts
and property interests. Among the resident
citizens, too, there is considerable feeling Of
insecurity, and of consequent uneasiness; not
only such as is properly due to the designs
and the WEAKNESS Of the enemy and the uncer-
tainties of war. but the anxiety which origin
stes will, the nervous, aud spreads BY coats>
zion. There are enough hero Of men, by
courtesy il Lincoln'sl Law for arresting alarmlsts
wero in force, to crowd Castle Goodwin before
noon ofthis dsy; and there are many others
who sot their countcnanccs BY tho alarmlsts'
faces, a. man sets his watch by tbs town
clock.
1t is ratural thai lnen should be excited by
recent niislcstunss, and By seemingly sp-
preaching psrils. But We should not therefore
surrender cur fOriitudo nor ronounce our trust.
We should mol permit ourselves to feel that
The country is lost because our individual
homes arc lest or endangered. We should
take more comprehensive Wow Of things;
and such view, We are persuaded, will not
Justify those alarms which the men OF white
lips, andsbanchcd checks, and startled vision,
have mado il .hoir one business to propagate;
| a. ~ ,t,,I, tS
ablo to assail all in authority, as if they were
the conscious authors oflha alleged impending
ruin.
VIZ have never attempted, nor do no now,
to conceal the misfortunes that have bofellen
us. We have stated them caudidly. If We
had been without confidence i'll the courage Of
our people,. perhaps VIC might have wished to
conceal their magnitude. Ii We had accepted
the spirit of the alarnsts, as the measure Of the
general (ortitude, we iuight havo judged ii
prudent to do so, But taking calm and hon
est yiow Of the var IS it has thus far pro
crossed and now stands, what is there to JUS
tify thoss who, in the hotels and on the pave
ments Of cur cities, divide their idloness be-
tween lorebodings and revilines9 Perhaps asSo
CATION with tho bravo men in camp, and q
share in their duties, would relieve them Of
their morbid excitement and dispeptic fears
Tho SUN of our disasters is included in this
fact and its consequences: that we arc not
able 10 contend with the enemy on the
waters Our attempts to do SO have
pretty generally failed. And NJ wonder. VIZ
we're without navy, while our snemies hat
the efficient equipment which had been pro-
vided by the common resources. We were mo-
q ship.bui!ding people st the South; We hst
not tbs ship-yards and ship carpenters IF tht
North. We were not o sea.going or ship own
ing people; We chad not the sailors and the
mercantile marine and steam transports c
the North. Oar fuating defences have thus
fallen fer below our necessities, and on tho va
tiers and shore lines we hava been weak and I'm
prepared.
We have suffered the disasters consequent
We haYo even endured misfortune s which nc
thought 10 hsye escaped. We have received
both heavy and IN unexpected blow IL the fall
of New Orleans. We lost Nashville, and had
our lire pushed back, in one point as low as
North Mississippi; ell from tl.e same cause--
our weakness on the water. What serious re-
verse have we suffered any whees ssvs from
this c.use3
Curtis was arrested by Price and Van Dorm
at Elk Horn, and turned back towards ST.
Louis. Grant vas beaten at Shiloh, and WOULD
have been destroyed, but for the water at his
back; and Buell. has been halted over since in
consequence. Banks has crept his way along
the Valley only as Jackson and Ashby have
chosen TO allow. Mcclellan Tor weeks has
been digging dirt for fear Of Johnston, in the
Peninsula. This day an aggregate army which
they beast as numbering 100, 900 nen is kept at
bay by our land forces. Western Virginia is
nearly evacuated by the enemy, and our loyal
people and sharpsbooters there are giving Ere,
mont no rest. Where is tho occasion tor all this
Eepining and revling which We hear from men
who ought to know better
| Wodo nothing but fall back, SAYS che
We fell back from Manassas and from tho line
Of tire Potomac; bat nobody is found to con,
delnn tue policy Of that movement. Even the
patriotic citizens who suffer the chief evils q
that step, acquicsco in its propriety. II it was
right, why complain about il? And as il
was from choice lEd not compusio,, it SHOULD
rather excite our confidence than our fears.
But why did we give up Fredericksburg
without fight? This question s asked BY
the very persons WHO say that If We could no
defend Fort Pulaski, etc., etc, we ought no
to have attempted il. Fredericksburg va!
not point at which wo should choose to max,
3 fight. 1t is On the Tster-and we MAY
be Justly excused for hydrophobis. Resist
| anco would have endangered the town, if i
did not sacrifice it. At Pulaski, and simila
: places, the case was different. There wa
nothing but tho fort itself to be compromised
: by resistance, and il the fort should hnalli
, fall, &c: the delay oecesioDed in its re.
duction might be Of the greatest con,
sequence. Tho protracted resistance OF tn
, single town Of Calais, TO the arms Of the vic
D torious Edward Ill, made that monarch lose
: whole campaign, and saved France from hi
grasp. But fer Fort Pulaski, and the propa
ratioas which its reduction required, Savannah
9 would have fallen long ago. 1t may be tina
: the delay has carried the campaign to poin
8 at which the yellow fever will interposs it
protection.
II, on the Peninsula, Gen. Johnston Sha
n fall back wheu Mcclellan may be no longe
: delayed at Yorktown, We shall doubtless hea
i fresh storm OF clalnoT. We dc nc. know tina
IL Il IL