The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-02-19

year or two OF such progress as they have
already made will find them masters OF
the Southern C0nfederacy. They who
think Independence 80 TO be achieved by
brilliant but iuconssquential victories,
would do well % look with The natural
eye at the magnitude Of Yankee possess
sions in our country. Maryland, Ken
lucky and Missouri, are claimed as con-
slituent parts Of the Confederation; they
are as much In the power Of Lincoln as
Maine and Minnesota. The pledge, once
deemed foolish by the South, that he
would "hold, occupy and possess, all the
forts belonging 70 lie United STATES Gov
eminent, has been redeemed almost TO
the letter BY Mr.. Lincoln. Forts Pickens
and Sumter we still retain, but, with
these exceptions, al the sirongholds on
The seaboard, from Fortress Monroe TO the
Rio Grande are in the hands Of the enc
my.
Very cpnsoling and very easy TO say
that il was Impossible 70 prevent all this,
and that the occupation OF the outer edge
Of the Republic amounts 10 nothing.
Drewry's Bluff and Nieksburg give the
lie TO the first assertion, and the onward
movement of Rosecrans towards Alabama,
the presence of Grant In North Missis.
sippi, and Of Curtis in Middle Arkansas,
10 say nothing of Banks at New Orleans
and Baton Rouge, set at rest the silly
dream that thin strip Of sea-coast
only is in the possession of our foes.
The truth is, the Yankees are in great
force In the very heart of the Confede-
raey they swarm on all our borders, they
threaten every important city yet belong
ing TO US, aud nearly two hundred thou
sand Of them are within two days march
of the Confederate capital. This is no
fiction. Ii is fact so positive that none
can deny it,
Nor is this all The President tells us
in his message, that the troubles with the
Indian tribes have been removed, and no
further difficulty is anticipated. The
intelligence we obtain from private and
trustworthy sources does not confirm
the Presidents sanguine assertions. The
| trouble with the Cherokees was, in great
! part, due 10 the fact that some, 1000 or
5000 Of them, now in arms, had not re-
ceived a cent of pay for fourteen months.
IL is true that paper money has been
sent them, and ere now, il is TO be hoped,
has reached its destination. But Indians
do not like paper money. Still, it would
answer the purpose if General Albert
Pike remained TO disburse it, and TO allay
their prejud ces, which he, of all men
in the Confederacy, is best ableto do
Pike, however, has resigned for good
reasons, doubtless, and a person said to
be most competent is left in his stead.
Under these circumstances, we shall be
fortunate indeed if we escape further
trouble with the Indians. Moreover, we
| get from Missouri members and other
distressing accounts of the condition of
affairs in Arkansas.
Gen. Hindman is very far from being
a fayorite, even among his own peef!c,
and so destitute are some of the new
levies who have volunteered TO come cut
of Missouri TO join our armies, that
whole battalions of them have been seen
marching barefoot through snow three
inches deep. Add TO this the fact that,
so far as the public is permitted to know,
New Mexico and Arizona are for the
time being lost 20 us, and that the state
of disaifeciion in Tennessee and Missis-
sippi Growing out of the appointment
of incompetent officers and the fancied
neglect of that country by the Govern
ment-not from any lack of fervor in the
cause, which President Davis's visit was
intended 10 heal, is likely to revive I'M
der the depressing influence of Braggs
retreat and his continuance in command
add all this to the foregoing, and it will
be seen that the Yankees have much to
encourage them in the prosecution of tho
war, and we not little to excite serious
appreht n iions as TO the future.
The remedy for this state of things is
obvious. 1t lies in the extension and Ri
gid enforcement of that law TO which we
owe our salvation We must bring out
the conscripts and diminish the exemp-
tions. Ii this is done, the chapter of
failures in the Southwest win come 10 an
end The history Of the battles in that
region has been sufficiently uniform to
justify a conclusion which shall not be
chargeable with the vices of hasty gem
eralizaliOn. IL has not been so much for
want of brains as for want OF men that
we have been compelled TO lose the fruits
of some Of the best fighting that has been
done in this war. AT Donelson, al Shi-
lob, at Perryyille, and at Murgreesboro,
the story has been always the same--yic-
tories aehieyed against egreat odds,
snatched away by overwhelming re. en- >
iorcemenis 10 the enemy.
As the past has been so will the future
be, unless something is done, and that
speedily, TO ill up the shattered ranks OF
cur armies in the West. Exemption must
be diminished. The system Of details
must be adopted Young men must not
be permitted 10 evaae their duty by slip
ping into safe places. Complainant friends
must turn deaf ear to their enireaties.
Able bodied men must not be allowed 20
stay at home on the pfetext OF attendin z
to twenty negroes. Here in Virginia
there are, in many places, contigu
plantations, numbering in the aggregate
hundreds Of slaves, without a solitary
white man left 10 guard them. The gen
lie authority Of ladies has been found
amply sufficient TO control the Obedient
African population.
With the llrst opening Of Spring comes
the last tremendous shock Of this war
Many OF the Ysnkee troops are nine
months men. More are enlisted for two
years, their time expiring in May next.
Up 20 that time they will be available,
and we may be very sure that all the
fighting that can possibly be gotten out
OF them will be had before they are al
lowed to go home. They outnumber us
two 20 one. There is limit 10 the en-
durance Of the brave men al Tullahoma,