New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1862-01-27
The Moral Of our Defeat.

lftona the Men1phfs Appeal
The intelligenee;of onr defeat in Eastern Ken
tueky, and the loasof the brave and chivalric zol
licoHar, have ere this been conveyed upons the
wings of the lightning to every city and town ct
the South. Tie news of the disaster will prove q
sudden shock to our people, inasmuch as they
were not expecting such result from that division
of our army. 1t boots not whether it be attribut-
able to q want of official competency on the part
of Gen. Crttenden or the alleged superiority of the
enemy forces, the fact confronts us that we have
been badly defeated, and it behooves US as men
worthy Of our revolutionary sres to confess the
truth and meet it's consequences, if necessary with
Roman courage and Spartan heroism. 359- s
The war waged for our independence has now
lasted for over nine mouths, and with the excep-S
ton of the fall of the gallant Garnett at Laurel
Hill, on the 18th of August last. we may well say
that history will record it, up TO the time Of the
for Southern arms Illustrating Southern yaior and
giving renewed impetus TO the cause of Southern
freedom. For one, guided by the beacon light
that CLEANS from the lamp of experience, We are
surprised that we have not encountered defeat be
erset. We have no right to expect uninterrupted
success, We Of the West are fighting a people
essentially different from those who fed from the
fields Of Bethel Bull Run and Balls BIuRf They
are sturdy syeomanry, Injured to the hardships Of
camp life, skilled in the use of firearms. and al
most equal to us in courage. We met them at
Belmont, and found them foemen worthy of cur
steel. In the attack, therefore, upon the command
their fortifcatons we see nothing in the result to
astonish us, even though the opposing army were
numerically smaller than our own. The ;advan-
tage of breastWorks and intrenchrnents in battle
can readily be appreciated when we remember the
battle of New Orleans, where Gen. Jackson, with
six Thousand raw militia, routed and drove back
fifteen thousand British regulars, On the sth Of
January, 1875. Lg, s4f{Stg g sE -5Sg
But confessing defeat, with the hope thatit may
not prove disgrace, taere is Q moral n it for u.s.
which, aught we know to the contrary, may be
Heaven.sent and Heaven-directed. "Sweet,n we
are truly told, /" are the uses of adyersityn A
prosperity long continued is dangerous from the
oyerweening confidence which it ia liable to en-
gender, but occasional disaster is invariably fruit
full of good results. The former dsaruis US of that
active and eternal vigilance whchis the price ST
sleeping apathy and gives that vitality and energy,
which enabled the fabed Antans to gather strength
from being pressed to the earth Defeat, as an in
strument in the hands Of a kind and beneicent
Providence, who watches thefall of every sparrow,
may be made the pregnant source Of an untold
amount of future good, enabling US to pluck the
flower safety from the thistle danger, and secure
triumph from the jaws of impending disaster.
Theresis certainly nothing however, in this mat
ter amentable as is its occurrence, to afford mo.
ment's encouragement to the most timid time
server in our midst whose sympathy is enlisted in
our noble cause. He who would intimate SO das.
tardly a thought only makes bold to attest the
shameless fact of his own cowardice, and arouses
suspicious that might well fasten upon him the dis
grace of reereancy and inoipient treason. A hun
dred such defeats as that, Of Crittenden could be
sustained byus without ineurring that degree Of
danger to the safety Of our Government which
darkened the prospects Of the American colonies
in the war Of l776. When, during the, gloomy
days of chat period, Charleston and Savannah had
fallen into the hands Of the enemy and the Cont.
mental forces were beaten back and routed at
Camden with the loss Of the brave DeKaib, the
heart of the sternest patriot had cause stosquail
Yet the colonists fought on through the dark and
trying ordeal, until a bright and glorious destiny
was attained, and freedom crowned their cause
with the blood stained laurels of victory. n
So far from being discouraged in the least
therefore, let us be prepared, if necessary, to en-,
counter more defeats during our war OF, independ
ence, without allowing even damper to be cast
upon our spirits We cannot expect to achieve
successes every time, and did we do SO, we might
well commence to have serious apprehensions Of
its ultimately deleterious effect Our people and
our rulers now see the necessity of increased ae
tiyity and wakefuluess, and, indeed, Of putting
! forth the full energies Of our giant young Confed
eracy in the development Of its resources for war
and the better use Of its powers of defence.