Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-03-14
NORTHERN OPINIONS or THE

{ papers nave been IuTnlSnlng tneT readers N my
sketches Of their observations in Tennessee. OF
course their tales are told for the edifcation, es-
peciaIy, of the people of the North, and should
be accepted with many grains of allowance.
The following extracts from the correspondence
of the Cincinnati Gazette win not be found un-
interesting:
THE REBELS or NASHVILLE.
A good deal has been said about the dormant
/ Union feeling in Tennessee. Most of the state
ments about this dormant feeling" has been
! exaggerated In Nashville we ought to find a
large proportion of loyal men; yet the assertions
of those who have the best means Of ascertain
ing the facts in the case are, that loyalty to the
government is to be found only among the
mechanics and iaboring classes of the city that
| the mercantile and business men are nearly all
/ sympathizers or abettors in the rebel cause and
/ can only be made to side with the government
| by repeated and uneq Biyocal demonstrations of
/ its ability to enforce national law. That this is
true appears evident from the fact that soon
/ as it became known that the Federal army
was advancing in Nashville, all the business
houses in the city, with a few exceptions, closed
their doors, and many Of the merchants com
meneed shipping their goods further south.
Nearly all the gold and silver coin belonging to
these merchants has been sent to Atlanta, GeOr-
gia. The streets of Nashville wear a sad and
! gloomy aspect. Whole rows of houses which
| two years ago were occupied by families Of
wealth and respectabihty, surrounded by all the
| circumstances that make homes happy and pros
porous, stand vacant, and the gaze Of the passer-
/ by is met, instead of, as in former days, with
! fine, tapestry window curtains and neatly pol
| ished marble steps, with panes Of dust-dimmed
/ glass, over which the spider has spread his web,
as if to hide from recognition the mournfui
vacuity within. If Tennesseeans had cause to
pride themselves upon the architectural beauty
of their capital city, it was before the bats and
the owls of treason took up their abode in the
! finest edifces of Nashville.
THE TEXAS VILLAINS.
The Nashville Banner does not say anything,
/ of course, about the depredations which two
! Texan regiments, in ascertaning that they must
evacuste the city, committed on unofending
citizens. Throwing Oft all guise, these villains
openly entered upon the legitimate object OF
their enlistment, Just before the arrival of the
/ Federal army, and commenced a system Of plum
/ der and robbery which would disgrace any civ
ilzed nation. They knocked men down in the
( public streets, in open daylight, and rihed their
I pockets They entered private houses, and de-
/ hantly carried off such articles of value as they
could lay their hands upon. They dismOunted
riders to steal horses-all this conduct, too,
/ toward the people Of a city where they had been
named as protectors of GOd-given rights Such
acts as these the Banner includes in the general
/ term of riot"
! The GGzette's correspondent was not in
Nashville or he might have learned two impOr
tsnt facts, that with few exceptions, the Texas
rangers did not stop here, and that there was the
smallest possible foundation for his story, in
fact, that It was yeritsble fancy sketch.
THE DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE
Gen Grant has been assigned to the com
mand of a new district that of West Ten
nessee--headquarter for the present at Dover.
The old district Of Cairo is now commanded
by Brig. g.-Gen. Cullum, chief of staff, as direct
representative Of Maj0r.-Gen Halleck.
Gen. Grant has already carved out Of rebel
dom the only portion Of his district Of which
the nation has possession Columbus and Mem
phis yet await his coming.
MARTIAL LAW IN TENNESSEE.
To-day February 24) the general has issued
a proclamation declaring martial law over his
district He says: " Tennessee, having by her
rebellion, ignored all the laws of the United
States, no courts will be allowed to sit un-
der the State authority; but all cases coming
within the reach Of the military arm viii be ad-
Indicated by the authorities the government has
established within this State. Martial law is
therefore declared 10 extend to West Tenne5-
see. Whenever a sufficient number of the citi-
zeus Of the State return to their allegiance to
law and order over this territory, the military re-
strictions here indicated will be removed"
CHARACTERIZATION SECESSION LEAVES IT.
Clarksville is, next to Nashville, the most i'm
portant point IN the western half Of Northern
Tennessee. pleasant little city of five or six
thousand inhabitants, with steamboating up TO
Nashville aud down to Padueah, and railroad
connections to Louisville and Memphis, with a
larger shipping trade than Nashville, beautifully
located on the rolling bluff of the Cumberland,
with iOurishing business houses, elegant pri-
vate residences, full academies and female sem
inares, tasteful churches, and the seat of not
little wealth and social retinemeut-so the rebel
lion found Clarksville
1t leaves her with trade destroyed, many Of
her business houses bankrupt her costly bridges
burnt, preventing railroad connection with either
Louisville or Memphis, some Of her best families
exies within the fast Teceding boundaries Of the
Southern Confederacy, a regiment and a half of
her sons prisoners Of war in the North, vie ori-
Gus generals headquarters established in the res
idence OF one Of her absent traitors sentTies at
every corner, an armed guard patroling the |
streets, encampments of loyal soldiers around
her treason-buil forts the people sullen, cut off
from the cause to which they had given them |
selves, and forced to associate with and depend |
for the very necessaries of life upon the North
they have been 50 industriously reviling.
Such are the rights secession has brought to
Clarksville and stil the people pray the end may
be not yet
Tt is rather singular that all this prosperity
should depart with " Secessia -
STILL REBEL.
We have all been curious to know the condi- |
ton and feeling of the people in the rebel States
Here is a piece just cut Of rebeldom, and still
papitating with its old hfs-bood. The people !
may eventually return to their allegiance, and |
become good Union men again but lust now
they take particular pride in informing us that /
there are but six Union men ia the whole city /
They submit quietly to force they know it
would be madness to resist; but they are frank I
enough TO make no secret of the fact that all /
their hopes and sympathies are with the ebelon /
and that for US their best wish is that We may /
get souudly beaten on every field where we meet /
the southern armies
sECEssIoNIsrs PROCESSING CONFIDENCE.
Strange as It may seem to those who, flushed
with our recent successes, are predicting that
month will end the war, these people seem to
believe IN the ultimate success of their cause
Fort Henry they talk of as an affair hardly
worth mentioning and they insist that Fort
Donelson wasn't so very BIG thing after all
The guuboats were beaten, they say; the land
forces were driven Off on Thursday aud Friday,
and on Saturday forenoon they nearly made
Bull Run stampede of it for us ; and, in short,
but for the cowardice Of Buckner, and the " ex-
cessive canton with due emphasis on eau
ton " of Floyd, Fort DJuelson, they maintain,
might still be theirs.
THE GUNBoATs
Thew cherish a arty ,,boIg,o.,., .,..,,,,+ f,r