Year: 1862

/ Fro m the Macon (Mis ) Beacon


! Our enemies surely do not imagine that by
! holding Yicksburg, Memphis and New Orleans
| they have re-opened trade upon the Mississippi
! Statesmen Of the Northwest must be fully aware
| of the fact, that commerce on the great river
cannot be conducted by gunbOats and we can
assure them it can by no other agency be carried


on. If Besuregard aud Lee, Johnston and


Jackson should all be defeated and their armiea
scattered throughout the gulf States, there are
still one hundred thousand armed men whose de-
Eight and vocation it will be 10 destroy steamers


and their passengers descending the Mississippi
| There is 10 human agency that can prevent


this. Victories and defeats signify nothing.


There are not enough men in al the great swarm


ing hive Of the North to guard the shores of the


Mississippi from Cairo to the Balizs. Until this


is done, as channel OF commerce for the outlet


OF the products Of the Northwest, the great river


is valueles7. The Northwestern States have


already discovered this fact They have fought


for the free navigation of the Mississippi and


now that they hold every city upon It's shores


their object is not more nearly attained than


when the storm of war FIRST burst upon cur de-


voted heads, a tempest whose darkest Clouds
were gathered and fieIcest thunderings were
heard afar IF in the Northwest


Memphis, Columbus, Fort Pillow and New
Orleans have fallen into the hands OF our enc
mics, but they hsv5 achieved nothing. The
navigation of the Mississippi, for ali commercial
purposes, is as Cffectually closed as it was when
Governor Pettu5 erected his iniinita5ie lortifca-
tons at Nelms' landing, rendered terrible by
the designation Norfolk We have been
tremulonsly fearful that the South would sub
NIT when Nelms' landing was captured, and
we doubt not that cur extraordinary governors
knees b" smote one another when his pet Glib
bIaltar fell


Let all this be as it may, the Northwest must
discover that its armies have undertaken hope
less task. Iron clad vessels may navigate the
Mississippi but the products Of the great pork and
grain growing Northwest must still seek an out
let to the ocean through the Eastern States
When the fact becomes apparent that no good
can result to Illinois, Indiana aud Iowa from
the persistent prosecution of the war, will those
States, having no other end in view besid IS this
seek for pescei Is there no mode of reaching
the Northwestern peoplei Was it for sugges-
tOns of this character that the Chicago Times
the qH0Hdam Douglas organ, was recently sup
pressed by Lincoln minionsl


Many leaders North and South would gladly
the war The duration of their pow
or and greatness depends On its continuance
Men well adapted to military position are often
fit for no pursuit in civil life But the great mass
of the people would have peace on the condition
of our absolute independence and the speediest
mode of securing it is by seducing the North
west from its alliance with New England.


In what we have said in reference to this sub
ject we would not have our readers miscon-
csive US. We would have no political relations
with non slsveholding States, that we would
have peace with them, and such treaty stipula-
lions as must result. We do not believe that
liberal enlightened republicanism can exist
without African slavery, but still we believe if
Louisiana should secede tomorrow from the
Southern Confederacy, as she has the constitu-
tional right to do, Mississippi, A kansas and
Tennessee would claim a tree and open right
of way through the great inland sea to the
Gulf, even though Louisiana holds both its
shores.


Ought we to cOncede this right to the North
western States