The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1865-01-18


!, Favored with uninterrupted success.
a man would grow indolcnt aud selfsuGi-
2 cent, and perhaps impious enough to i'm
: agine himself almighty. A month Of
, cloudless skies would be likely to beget a
forge;fnlDess Of falling weather, ard men
might be ovetaken by storms while total.
ly unprepared. Twenty successive years
Of plenty, would destroy all the habits Of
economy and fragality which are at pres.
cnt the worlds best defence against fan
inc. Hmen never received physical dam
age from trausgrcSsion Of natural law, the
world would be swallowed up IN axccss,
virtue would perish out Of the race, aud
society would fall in ruin.
So much for the use Of adgcrsity.
a great military and naval expedition
set sail for Wilmington few weeks ag).
there we're many great ships, many great
guns, and 10000 men. Elated by bril-.
liant successes the public regarded the
fall Of Wilmington as foregone result.
Not many, even ofIhe less sanguine among
loyal men, thought failure probable
I - ASN "a y HSbL pfg GI~ tu|H SAtA'S
rumors Of the abandonment Of the expe.
dtion, and the return of the troops to
Fortress Monroe. The loyal were filed
with anxiety and regret. The disIoyaI
press rang the changes upon these rumors
and made no concealmcut Of its joy A
Mcclellan paper, now lying before Us pub
fishes the rumor, and in an editorial says
! that our troops were beaten back with
great slaughter. The fact was, that 10
assault vas made by cur troops, and there
fore there was no rcpulse and no slaugh-
ter from the eDemy's Ere. The precise
fact seems, from the olicia' report to be:
The Geet under Admiral Porter attack
81 Fort Fisher, and silenccd is guns
Under the fire Of the feet Gen Butler
made a reconnaissance IN force 10 within
30 yards Of the Fort, retired unmolcstcd
having satisfied himself that the place
was Impre.nablo to any force at his CON-
uaud. As for losses sustained they per.
taiaed to the feet, and do not exceed six
y, all, or nearly al from the bursting cf
several Guns.
Now the Wilmington expedition fail
ed. In posting the books Of this war is
will be set OF to Profit and Loss. But.
The failure is to be deplored, IS 40 cause
for despair. Wilmington will fail into
vCg hands as Savannah aid, ia good time
The failure 10 capture it ought to teach
Us wisdom. We ought to have learned, /
ere this that the salvation Of the repub- I
lie IS to be worked out with fear and
trembling. We arc TO deserve a redeem /
cd ana purified nation through great trib- /.
ulatiUn. Il is for US to know that pcrna- /.
ucnt peace, when it comes, will come as
The wages Of fidelity to truth and justice
and not as graluity. We have not yet
c0mPrehcuded The nature Of this strug
gle, as a people. How many fus rccog. (
Dize IN j. more than passage at arms be .
tween Two sections of The repubiic2 Yet
IL Is something vastly more mom.utous
still 1t Is the old quarrel between hight
and darkness renewed ia open Ge!d. One
must suecamb II IS for the people to
say which shall rule. It is not to be sell
lied hy ang fortuit0us happenjEc whaIev- /
CT. We are to purchase peace at a cost
which shall render us jealous Of ever at .
tempt to inaugurate war for the purpose
OF national aggraudizcmcut The sears
this nation is TO bear will constitute, not
only an orcl page Of history, bnt glow as
a warning against criminal compromise
with wrong 10 al! time to come.
This intolerance Of defeat, however, Is /.
by no means 70 be nuqualiGedly condemn
ed. None bat patriots will grieye over
tho defeat Of our arms. Failure there
fore, twice profits us,-ouce in teaching
Us who syn pathize with treason, and once
IN impressi8E upon the minds Of men the
fact that man is not almighty IL we
thus regard temporary defeat in this light
the burden will not seem so heavy. Ger /
taInly no man is competent to Judge of
the merits and demerits Of any military
disaster, sitting in his easy chair thous- .
and miles away Whatever else we may
be, few Of US are military critics. And
when we take il upon US to say that this .
might have been done, or that avoided we
undertake to speak upon points Of which
we are entirely iguorant.
Let none repine because invariable .
success does not attend military and naval
enterprise. We must be content to en-
dure the varying fortune Of war as other
nations have endured before. The wide
space over which the Union armies are
operating renders uninterrupted success
impossible. Standing at any given point
nc man can overlook the entire arena Of.
war aad comprehend the magnitude OF
the struggle The people eau afford to Be
patient. They can afford to Wat.-Agi,
tutOr.
;
L.s..tn-, r-.-, n.Hi---lcr, cL-...-