The New York herald., 1862-04-02

|
pieces by the feet of the Burnside expedition,
the rebel armed forces before leaving the town
would have destroyed it by fire, but for the OPP
posing efforts of the citizens and the speedy
approach of our troops. And so it was at Eden
ton and at Newbern. In regard to Newbern,
charming little city of five thousand souls,
In the mean and foolish revenge of the rebel
army there beaten in battle, would have been
reduced to ashes but for the exertions OF the
inhabitants and the seasonable cooperation OF
our soldiers and seamen in the work OF extin-
gushing the fires which had been lighted. 1t
was also against the remonstrances and prayers
of the people of Nashville that Floyd, the run
away thief and traitor, destroyed the costly
bridges there over the Cumberland; and be-
fore running off again, he would perhaps have
destroyed the State Capitol ITSELF but for fear
of some bodily injury from the unarmed citi-
zens. The incendiaries of the rebel army at
Memphis have raised the question of burning
that place In the event of being compelled to
leave it; and, notwithstanding the emphatic
proclamation Of Mayor Grant to the contrary,
we shall not feel satisfied of the safety of Mem
| phis until we hear that its rebel defenders have
evacuated it and spared it, or that they are sur
rounded, and will have to spare the city to save
themselves.
In all these proceedings the reader will OBJ
serve the wide distinction between the inclna-
tions and the wishes of the Southern people and
the vandalism of their rebel government and
| their rebel armies And this distinction may
be readily explained. jeff Davis and his ruling
| otoo to o1v orod
to despoil ard lay waste by fire the whole
| South; and while the officers of his armies are
in the same dilemma, large proportion of the
privates, having nothing to lose; and nothing
else to gain, are eager for the work of spolia-
ton and destruction against the property of
their wealthy neghbors. The testimony of
Parson Brownlow upon this question is very
suggestive, and he is an intelligent and reliable
witness. The great body of the citizens of the
South, on the other hand, though ready to make
| or to submit to very heavy contributions to the
cause of their Southern confederacy, cannot
understand how it is to pay them for such pa
triotic sacrifices by fire as will leave their wives
and children without roof to shelter them,
and without one days subsistence for them, as
| houseless wanderers amidst the malaria of
| Southern swamps and jungles.
| Upon this broad distinction between the van
dalism Of the rebel leaders and their army, and
the situation and the necessities of the Southern
people, we see the way clearly to their deliver
ance. We are strongly persuaded to the con-
| clusion that the expulsion of the rebel govern
ment from Richmond will, as if by magic, re-
move all doubts upon the subject, and we are
sure that this aforesaid act of expulsion is close
| at hand.
| The Blacks 1t Port .Royal-The Dangers
Of Bloodthirsty Fanaticism.
! Now that General Hunter has proceeded to
assume the command of the Department Of the
| South, we have every reason to believe that
| dangerous practices which have been carried
on in South Carolina will be abolished.
| No sooner does the success Of the Port Royal
expedition cause the white population to fly
from the district, and the negroes to flock to the
troops in order to eat the bread Of idleness,
than morbid philanthropy in the three COM
mercial cities of the North goes to work and
gets up fanatical societies to take these blacks
in hand, in order to feed, clothe and educate
them, Just as if there were not thousands of
needy objects of commiseration and charity
men, women and children of their own race-at
their very doors. The New York Freedmans
Relief Association the Philadelphia Port Royal
Committee and the Boston Educational Asso.
citation all appear to have the same object in
view, and that is to inoculate the ten thousand
negroes at Port Royal with those ideas that can
only tend to incendiary and insurrectionary
acts, which, in the event Of peace and the return
Of these negroes to their normal condition,
would result in the murder Of their masters
and the massacre of their families.
| The gospel which it il intended to teach
them is not that Of Christ in the holy Evan
gelists, but the gospel according to Wendell /
! Phillips, Lloyd Garrison and John Brown
the gospel of the pike, the assassin's knife and
the incendiary torch. One Of the abolition
sheets of this city exults in the thought that
the effect of the missionary teachings proposed
will be that the negroes, when the war
is over, will 'be ready to meet their
tyrants with an organized resistance and
ample MEANS" including, of course arms aud
ammunition, and probably some white cut
throat leaders, animated by the spirit of John
Brown the murderer and horse thief Thus
are the minds of the contented negroes to be
corrupted and poisoned by the Vaccinations of
] the emissaries Of darkness assuming the garb of
angels Of light, who, as stated by Senator in
Congress, embrace the negroes at Port Royal
| and call them brothers and sisters"
1t was in this way that the bloody tragedy in
St. Domingo was brought about by the French
fanatics in Paris, who, at the time of the Revo-
| luton, organized themselves into a society
called Les -4ynis des Noirs-'the friends of the
blacks"-in imitation Of the British association
for the abolition of the slave trade, which held
its meetings in London, and hypocritically dis
claimed any intention of desiring more than an