Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1862-04-24

Ous character, or that the position OF things ID PAIN
fully critical The present is time for coDceamens
The public in order to have confidence must be treated
with confidence. The people of the CoDfederacy. by
their patriotism and constancy have established their
right to such treatment and any other course will DO
harm. Island Number Ten has fallen. We have fear
ed as much ard more. We now FIRST learn the fact
through Federal sources We must fear that this con-
cealment or suppression Of news, will do harm. We
want to publish nothing that will interfere with theml-
4arv operations of the government in any way. We
are not quite fools enough 10 be willing to do anything
t odd m the risk of the vessel 10 which our odn hum
be lives and fortunes are embarked. But we are now
come to the time when conceamens are useless as they
are needless. They can do no good, and the painest
truth most plainly stated, can do no barn. The people
are not afraid OF the truth if we thought they were
then indeed might be given to despair Of the Repub
lic Bat they are not. They are afraid OF the secrecy
that lay quiet that suffered Albert Sidney Johnston to
stand 30 long Of Bowling Green without force for fear
of letting his weakness be known by taking the people
ct once into confidence and appealing to them as bad
finally to be done with this diff renee that If 1t had 0etn
done at once Besuregards troops at Cornth would by
this time have all been seasoned veterans and not as
too many of them must now be, new, though brave
leVies.
We know that these remarks are distateu, but they
are true We know that President Davis and bis cab
met and all bis cers all indeed who not only have the
fate Of their country at heart bat vast possibility
connected with her desnies upon their shoulders
entitled TO ask for and receive not only ready support
but kind construction for all their acts which are uD-
ouestionsby dictated by an honest desire TO promote
- fha pnh inH.O 1ndp IN
the tremendous conflict now pending. The government
is as much interested as the people. The members OF
the government are of aud from the people, and have
the me rights 10 defenl the Interests to protect
that the people have They share the same dangers with
the people, only in still greater degree, as their prom
inence makes th,m a m're conspicuous mark II is in
tn, perfect mutual confidence and fill understand ng
ad ccord te:wen ire people and their agents that tie
hopes of the patriot must be founded. Without this
foundation, they must be doomed to disappointment.
We make these remarks with none OF the feelings Of
mere newsmongers, deprived OF exciting palladium tor
daily ISSUE The duties and the labOrs OF the cOnscen
tous conductors Of the public press in these times are
painful and harrassng to degree which few understand
or appreciate, and require frequently serious effort to
bring the mind up to their due performance in the midst
Vidua But they are necessary for they afford the great
medium by which, to certain extent, the country holds
communion with ITSELF knows its own position, discov
ers it's own maades and suggests its remedies OF
course there will be evils 10 this institution" for it
an institution aud except from the preceding re-
marks in this paragraph the few who would seza the
present as time for the advancement Ct party ends or
private purposes But whole, never has the press
OF the South Of any other country exhibited higher
spirit purer moral tone, and it well afford to
let pass the small of the few off als 10 epsules
or out OF them who think it something approaching to
craftsmanship to express haEcOvert wish for its sup
preston at least desire to witness its natural DEATH
BY it al the government appeal 70 the people or
she people TO the government The stirring procl
tiOD, the pItriotc appeal fad voice through its
cjlumns. From its Efforts great movemen 6nd their
impetus, while its intelligence keeps the people from
falling into that deadly apathy which flows from SON.
bre conjecture and results 10 helpless dependency. 1t
s therefore for the good not of the newspaper conduc
tJrs few in NUMBER but of the people, that as W i'm
pediments possible should be offered to the full trans
mission Of reliable facts not affecting future movements
or combinations Or even the present positions oftroops
bat facts to things that have actually happeEel and
which must be we'll known to the enemy as to cur.
selves.
Now this fall of Island Number Ten was not 80 %.
expected that its announcement should have created
any panic. Indeed the public had been prepared tor it
and the Memphis papers said something about it, and
then it appears to Lave been bushed up. 1t is mis-
take that disasters need to be concealed from true
pie. Roanoke and Donelson only stimulated SUCH
The watering the uniathul seem to iud them out al
any rate. Number Ten was to be held as long as pcs
Biole, but it not relied upon that it could not b.
taken or would not have to be evacuated. Was il
taken or was it evacuated? These are questions We
publish elsewhere the report OF Commodore Foote tC
tae FEDERAL Secretary Of the Navy also certain remarks
made in ST. Louis on the 9Th instant by General Hal
leCk. There is an apparent discrepancy, but we Car
form opinion.
Our Richmond and other contemporaries comment
with bitter modification upon the whole train of cir
eumstances connected with Island Number Ten. Coz
knows there is plenty of ground for it, 10 connection
b tn with Number Ten and New Madrid. There ba
bern altogether too much gas and may as we'll sa
it-hiskfy around with too many of our leaders. Tb
hrm that drunkenness has done the soldiers is enoug
CERTAINLY, but who shall pretend to estimate the HAIR
that has been dore y du1ken even drinking officer.
We must come down to stern facts 1t is true the enc
my lies and gases. Haleck lies about Corinth an
they ell lie7generaIy about things in general but
things 20 on as they have been going lately they wi
be able to retor the accusation upon with interest
THE Convention of this State, which we think is til
only one of those extraordinary bodies the offspring
the movements of the last year, which still maintains ii
existence, met last Monday in the Capitol at Raleigh
Were we inclined to indulge in any vein of sarcasm Gel
taiuy the tenacity with which this body cDgs to exl
tence the uncertainty of its ultimate course and the r