Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-07-10
A TELEGRAPH WAR.

FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 10, 1863.
A TELEGRAPH WAR.
We may Us well give up tho attempt to
know anything about the fate and fortunes OF u
our armies in any quarter whatever anu az
in consequence of the Internal invention Of
the electric telegraph. 1t is one. of the worst
plaques and curses that have ever beialien
this human race. 1t covers US all over with
lies, fills the very air we breathe and obScures
the very sun; makes US doubt Of everything
we read, because we know that the chances
are ten to one it is false; and leaves us uncer-
tain, at last, Of our own existence. Men say
it brings intelligence quick; yet every event
announced by it IS always So obfuscated by
these quick-coming reports, oil destroying one
another, that the true story is generally longer
in being ascertained than it was before. We
know not that the telegraphisof real advantage
to any human being, except To large operators
in stocks and great spectators, who gain this
advantage at the expense Of the rest Of the
community, and gain it always by talsehood.
Only give them a day, or half day, to get
their lie believed in some distant place. and
they will have made their pile ut any rate
After the~ -.l----zs;EEsluSs.z We sincerely wish
r'.1 saIs Geographic wire ltall the
world.
1t dazzles the eyes and bcwilders the brain
to lopk into the mass of contemporary history
now before us. Whether Gen. Lee was victo-
rious or repulsed ON Friday last; whether ne
is simply retiring to preserve his line OF COM
munieations or is flying in hopeless rout to
plunge the ruined remnant of his army into
the fooled Potomac; whether we have taken
forty thousand prisoners, or four thousand or
none ut all whether Banks retired, after his
late repulSe, to New Orleans, or whether he
ras rcpuscl; whether Gardner has issued
out of Port Hudson aud routed Banks, rs IAN
officer" declares; whether Gen. Dick Taylor
Joined Gardner-or, indeed, where the said
Dick Taylor is at all; at Milliken's Bend, At
New Orleans, at Port Hudson; whether there
is, in fact, any Dick Taylor in re'7em
aatsra; whether Loring defeated Osterhaus,
or Osterhaps defeated Lorins; whether we
are winning or losing Mississippi-upon
all this we have abundance OF telegraphic his
tory. The electric battery stands always ready,
and IAN officer" is forever at hand with re-
port.
Yet, certain facts are beginning to evolve
themselves out Of the chaos. NlcksburS has
fallen The additional dispatches received
yesterday leave no longer doubt possible on
that. We must now make up our minds that
the defence Of our great river must rest on
other points than Vicksburg; and fortunately
there are others available.
Another unauestionablc fact is, that after
three days fighting in Pennsylvania, with we
know not what success, Gen. Lee has fallen back,
Withdrawn his forces backward from Gettysburg
and was last heard of fighting at or near Ha-
gerstown, in Maryland. Whether it is his
Intention to re-cross the Potomac at present, or
to hold his ground in Maryland, or whether he
is likely 10 be forced back again within the
Virginia frontier, does not at all appear from
what is yet known to US. That his veteran
troops cannot be routed or disorganized, we
have AL been in the habit of counting on aS1I
certainty; and, therefore. there is every
sa1to,-5 believe he will both save his army
bring of safely the large supplies furnisne
to him in Pennsylvania. But this is not sue
cess to an invading army.
Ga the whole, then, the fortune of war, Tor
this week, goes against us. We have been too
confident, and too disdainful Of the proves
of our foes; and the fortunes of war fuetuate
forever, like all the other tides in the affairs o!
men.
What then? VIII any Confederate lose
heart or hope for this? Shall our proud ban
ncrs drocp, or our faith fail, or our trust in
lust Providence grow feeble! God forbid II
All that We have already done, and vowed to
do; all our past, I'LL our future, call on US.
pledge US, compel US, to read in oil that his
be:aiien but one lesson-that we must repair
our faults. reinforce our strength where 1t Is
weak, rcdouLle our efforts, and use all our re.
source, so as to present stern front OF re-
sistarce to the base and brutal foe who wages
so pei sistcnt war for our destruction. We
have TO remember that by our acts OF secession
and our defiance of all consequences we arc
simply bound to make good that secession, or
die We have to remember THAT we Coincide
rates have always loudly protested towards
these Yankees not hatred and defiance only.
but ineffable scorn and disdain also; and that
if we suffer our country now to be subdued by
a race we despise SO much, it were better for
us we had never been born. Those who die
in stern resistance will then be the only fnrtu-
nate and happy Confedcrates; and Of them
will often be said by the survivors, Terque
quaterque beaH! Thrice, indeed, and four
times blessed, will be the dead, whose eyes
will never behold the degradation of their
country; and ten thousand times accused the
unhappy men condemned to live on and beSet
yassals to Yankee lords!
1t may be needless to urge these topics
The great mass Of our people have already
shown what they are ready to do and to dare
rather than strike hands again with our NOR
tai foes. We have seen darker days than this
and they have only made US serry our ranks
and strike more fercely home. Noblcsse
oJliys We boast that we have in our veins
that good blood which acM not sink, but rises
higher for every blow. Now is the time to
show it. The army we have raised, the Gov