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

FICkSBURG AND THE MISSISSIPPI.
# the despatch be genuine, Eicksburg has
fallen at last.
After as gallant and desperate defence as
ever was made by any besicgcd fortress on
earth, against vast armament on land
and ON the water, in front and rear, our he
roic town of Vicksburg has capitulated. The
enemy has got the shattered and riddlcd shell
of town; but he has not got, and never shall
get, the Mississippi River.
Port Hudson stands-New Orleans NAV
now be in our hands; yet, should Port Hud-
ON, too, fall, and should New Orleans yet
remain for season under the hoof of the
| fuul lankee-still there can be no free navi-
CATION of the river without the consent of the
States upon its banks. There are many other
detensible points, capable of being powerful
ly fortified and so long as our people Of Mis-
sissippi and Arkansas and Louisiana remain
good and loyal Confederates, as they are
now, and hate the greedy foe, as they
have such deep cause to hate them,
no trading vessels or transports of
the enemy can pass up or down. Two or three
pieces flight artillery wheeled up suddenly to
the bank at almost any point, can still sink
and burn them, The Tunkees arc ouiy at the
beginning OF their gigantic task of opening the
Mississippi; and all the forces and resources,
in mon, treasure, gunboats and artillery that
they can accumulate for this work in twenty
years, will evidently not be enough, if the
Confederate people choose to have it so. The
enemy may perhaps proceed with their rufhan
system Of treating as brgands or ''bushwhack-
crs' those VIII shall persist in defending their
country, and shall in discharge of that duty,
fire upon their passing vessels. Be it so:-
we are no longer wasing a merely defensive
war and their atrocities towards the dwcllers
on the rivcr-bank must be the exact measure
of the stern and bloody retribution which it will
be the duty of our Generals to wreak upon the
people in such parts of the North as our armies
may occupy.
1t cannot, however, be denied that the SIS
of Ficksburg is Il heavy blow to the Confede-
racy; though more than countcrbal lanccd by our
glorious victory in Pennsylvania. 1t sets free
Grants army, or the greater part Of it. to 90
TO the aid of Banks, in louisiana, and of Rose
cranz, in Tennessee ; and will ncccssitate the
most energetic action, and that Immediately,
on the part Of the government, to prevent
other grave disasters. 1t defcrs, probably,
the hope of an early peace; encourages the
Northwest to new exertiOns. and compels us
to look steadily in the face the prospect Of at
least one other years war.
Doubtless we shall hear outcres against
Gen. Penlberton and Gen. Johnston by peo-
pie in civil lie, who scarcely know what a
siege is. We shall not join in those out
cries; and are content to rest in the belief
that all was done which it was possible to
do, both by our government and by the COM
manding generals to whom it entrusted the
fortunes Of the Confcdcracy at that point
The conduct of those generals, the means ut
their command, and the way they used those
means-all this is known ut the War Depart
ment: and the military authorities there are
the only authorities competent to Judge Of
them.
They have at any rate, made the acousi-
ton of Vicksburg cost the enemy dear. 1t
will cost him dearer yet to make that acquisi-
ti"n profitable. In the meantime if all goes
we'll in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the pos
session of Philadel phia, Baltimore and Wash
ington must be accepted as some compensa-
tion to Us.
And, after all, this despatch, purportng to
come from Gen. Johnston, may not be gcnu-
inc. Many officers discredit it, for these scvc-
raj reasons: First, it is addressed 10 the Sec
retary of War-not to the Adiutant General ;
and Johnston, the most punctilious of officers,
is not likely to commit an informalty: Sec
ond, it refers to no official report from Gen.
Pcmherton, though there was time to have re-
ceived one; but gives the authority Of IAN
officer" Thru, that officer arrived on the
5th; but the despatch was not sent till the
1th: Fourth, it makes the date Of surrender
the 4th Of July, which makes US think at
once of one of those Yankee devices to pro-
duce "finc moral effect
Yankees may have got bold of the tcle
graph line somewhere, and bribed some opc-
rator, somewhere along the line, who knew the
cypher, to forge Il despatch, and then carried
him of for safety into their lines. Or if the
Yankees hud no hand in it. then some Con-
federate sugar::spcculator may have done it; !;
and could well afford to make the fortune of
the traitorous operator and ensure his escape
also. God help US! We live and move in an
atmosphere of lies the main use of this telc-
graphic art seems to be to lie better, faster,
farther than ever; wflen Yankees are not
lying for fine moral Gect, our own patriotic
spectators do it for tn profits on a hogshcad
of sugar.
We await further light; but in the mean
time we know pru dent capitalist who will
buy no sugar till ne st week.