The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1863-07-18
rFrom the Richmond Wing.
THE BELT or DESOLATTON.

mode sT8g s5EUos-=-shI s. f8a ,sgzE
Day by day the track of the destroyer
becomes broader. Two-tbirds of Yirginia,
two thirds of Tennessee, the coasts of North
and South Carolina part of Georgia iearly
all of Fioriday Northern2 Mississippi, West
ern and Southern Louisiana, al greakPzrt of
Arkansas!and Missouri, have already been
laid waste, and r. every hour brings tidings
of fresh destruction" DISPATCHES of Satur
day Informed us that the enemy had de-
stroyed million dollars worth Of prOperty
on the Conbaheo, and stolen, thousand
negroes; it was but a few DAYS AGO that
they ravaged the county of Matthews, in
this State, and even while we write tdinds
come to us that they are burning private
houses and destroying. every. grsin1of corn
sRsy Gan q t5siE hands 81 u sPs counties
+ Enough has been said 81 the bsrba+ism
of this mode of warfare, and toe mitch has
to be confessed of The entire i'm purity with
which it is carried on. Our outeBies and
our admission of the weakness or the imbe-
cility of our forces in the field but add to the
helish JOY of the foe. without Stimulating
troops, Government or people, to the pitch
of retributiye vengeance. The belt of des-
olation widens hourly. nor is there much
prospect of abatement of the evil. CiG-
zeus complain Of the Government, which in
turn complains OF the citizens. Meantime
common inquiry is made as to the existence
aud present whereabouts Of the organized
forces of the Confederacy.
! We may be sure that this state of things
will continue SO long as the war is waged
exclusively on Confederate soil. Every
day the enemy remains in our territory will
add to the width of the belt of desolation,
and they who now fancy themselves out of
danger viii soon discover their mistake.
If thousand Yankee cavalry can ride en-
tirely through the State of Mississippi with
out molestation, what is to hinder a like
number from going through Virginia, North
and South Carolina, to Port Royal? Ger
tainIy, unarmed and unorganized citizens
will not hinder them te =serl
The belt of desolation serves many qpur-
poses of the Yankee nation. 1t opens a
way to free labor and Northern settlers; it
diminishes production and contracts South
eTn population within limits inadequate to
their support; it prepares place for Yam
kee emigration if peace on the basis Of sep
aration is declared. But this is not all. 1t
i answers the purpose of war as well as peace,
by interposing a country destitute of sup
plies between our own and The Yankee Dor
der. Thus it is safeguard against invasion.
If'Lee would advance, he must move thro'
desert, dragging immense trains of food
1 behind him. The case is the same with
Bragg, with Johnston, with Price. rh
Indeed, we hear that Price will find it
difficult, ifnot impossible, to enter Missouri.
In front of all our large armies lies waste,
where there is food for neither man nor
beast. Girded by belt of desolation, the
North is safe from invasion; the broader
the belt the greater its security. As the
months &ane, and the years roll on, the
South, unless something be done, viii be-
come, in the language of Scripture,n f'the
abomination of desolation." We believe
that something will be done--the necessity
of the case demands it imperatively; would
that we could be sure that it will be done
speedily. The cup can be returned to the
lips of the North, drugged with ten-fold
bitterness. Mercy to ourselves demands
this act'of retributive justice to them,