Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-09-05
THE AMERIoAN QUESTION.


Banks OF che NLississlppI recon.
mended,
London Times.
For months and months the press O
England and America has tanght its read
ers to believe that on the fate of VtcksburG
1 hinged the fate of the rebellion. It has
been in vain to raise q faint voice Of warn
, ing that vicksburg and Port Hudson might
stand or might fall, but that If both fell
the Mississippi would no more be opened
, to federal commerce than Wonld the Yang.
TIE Kiang. Both have fallen-what next
, 1t has always been held by many wise
heads in the South that the policy of fix
ing upon certain strong points on the river,
like Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and try
ling to convert them into Gibraltars, i'm
pregnable from land or water, was mis-
take, and would so be proved sooner or
later. Such points, Il was argued, offered
q resistance to the North which, with their
i facilities of water communication, they
were admirably prepared to cope With
As soon as it became evident that gunbORts
and wooden vessels could pass batteries
like those of Vicksburg with impunity, it
became useless to expose large bodies of
men and abundance of war mateiisl to be
besieged by land. Nothing more is want
ed in regard to the Mississippi than small
bodies of guerillas upon either bank, who
will pick off the pilots of commercial ves-
sells, and occasionally send six FOUNDER
shot through the cabins.
All the forces of the United States army
and navy combined could not prevent eV-
cry commercial vessel which descends
from st. Louis to New Orleans being fired
at dozens of times in her long passage
from city to city. The Confederates have
lost the two strongholds situated for de-
fence, and, if report speaks truth, they are
about to be garrisoued, as we'll as Grand
Gulf and Natchez, by the North. II will
probably take not many months TO teach
the latter that their government is as far
as ever from the possession Of the Missis.
stppi, and that the successes of General
Grants arms will no more restore the
Union than did the capture of New Or
leans. Such are the arguments of many
thousands of OonfederateS. In confirms
tion Of their opinion, 1 am bound to record
that never, at any period of my residence
within the confederacy, did see the spirit
of resistance to Northern domination so
fragrant and indomitable. Vicksburg and
Port Hudson may fall, Charleston and Mo-
bile may be taken-just as every seaport
town was taken and held by England dur
ing the Revolutionary war-but there is
behind them an enormous area of richly
productive country which is unoonquera-
BILE. The resolution that, come what may,
never shall the South go under, crops up
and meets you at every turn, and has not
bated one jot of heart or hope because the
horizon for the moment is gloomy and
clouded.
TIE ASSAULT ON OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES TO
Irats ADMIRAL DAHLGREH.
s. {, 49,, S,1E1 1E1r,vnank aY,Ir aao ~.
cumstance connected with the present fed
eral attack upon Charleston which iustifies
apprehension in regard to the possibility
of it's success, tits to be found in the
character and ability of the naval officer
in command. All Englishmen who have
the advantage Of knowing Admiral Dahl.
gren will bear testimony that in scientific
knowledge of all that pertains to ordnance
and gunnery he has not living superior.
To this knowledge he adds tranquil en-
ergy of character which is refreshing
contrast to the bombast Of most federal
officers. Any attack conducted wholly or
in part by such an officer cannot fail to
be formidable. But up to the present time
be impossible for the federals to reduce
Battery Wagner (Which is the nut that
they are at present trying to crack before
/ the season which introduces the equin0c.
tial gales shall have commenced. Moth
| ing is more common in the latitude of
Charleston than gales of great violence
about the middle of August. The federals
will then have no other method of assail-
\ ing the battery than from their land ap-
proaches upon Morris Island. These ap-
Iproaches must be conducted entirely along
the surface of the ground,
If a trench to the depth of two feet is
\ ia k1Ha nd Il,
ter. There is, therefore, little possibility
Of advancing by parallels. II is doubtful
whether any batteries which the federaIs
can construct upon the island can reduce
a casemated work like Fort Wagner. But,
leyen assuming that Fort Wagner is taken,
the federals will then have to take the
work at Cummings Point "a less strong
work than Fort Wagner) before they can
lopen preaching batteries from the end of
I Morris Island against Fort Sumter, the dis.
tance being one thousand two hundred and
sixty yards. After the destruction of Fort
Sumter land 1t may be conceived in what
lcondition, if it be reduced, it will be hand.
4 cd over to the federals) the work of re.
ducing Charleston will only have conn
menced. The conclusion to which all who
are admitted to some knowledge of the
resources of the defence cannot but come
lis that, if Charleston is seriously endAn.
gered, the task of reducing it will severely
task Yankee patience and pertinacity, and,
were it not for the experience of the past
might be considered certain to exhaust
even such lond suffering endurance as has
been SO long exhibited by England and
: France.
NILIFHRY MIsMANAaEABHF OF TIE REBELS
do not propose in this letter to enter
into detail upon the subject of the impor-
tant operations along the Mississippi riVel
and in the West. Il will be sufficient fol
the present to say that, be the fault where
it may, there has been gTiepOHs RlismGnGge-
msnt IN tie conduct Of Confederate afatrs-