Year: 1865

[From the Richmond Enquirer, Feb 2Sl


The moment before battle when the lines formed
the skrmishcrs dpoyed, the guns unlmbered and the
command awaited which is 70 end "that awful pause
dividing life from death is more trying to the nerves Of
As men come through this ordeal will they fight
The love Of life the dread Of the awful future whose
danger, the thought OF home and friends, felt
that instant with an intensity that only be known
the perous edge Of battle The poet has truly said that
this fearful silence


Sinks for instant in the hearts Of men,
Thousands Of whom are drawing their last breath.


He does not fater then but gathers resolution from
the sense Of duty and Of honor recalls the greater evils
TO avert which this danger incurred and above ALL
who, conscious Of right commits himself to the OF
One without Whom not even the sparrow faeth, will
not shrink when the storm of battle RACES around HIM
But he who yields to what may be the natural impulse
OF the moment and ventures to look back is already
half beaten. His confidence is shaken, his mind is
irresolute, dangers magnhed he halts he wavers
he flies Life may be saved, but it is life Of shame and
dishonor.
AS it is with armies, It is with nations When
people resolve on they must be prepared TO all
Its consequences IT. in the hour Of peril they parey
with fear, they lost. Calm self possessed resou
ton arising from the conviction that the object they
seek to gain is worth all they may required to give for
it, is the only guarantee Of su S. Disaster and defeat
inspire such people with determination instead
OF filling them with dependency The clearer contem
plaon OF the tate they would avert only thcm
greater efforts


doe inappropriae to suggest to our people,
In the present crisis, Of the reflections with which
the brave soldier encourages himself battle and
quiets the suggestions Of apprehension and alarm.





TO dspe Of the fears that timidity the love
and property secret hostility to cause indus
trously propagate.


The Of battle every soldier knows Is fruitful OF
all kinds Of startling rumon and reports. The strength
and designs are misrepresentcd and dangers magnied
or even invented.


Such bs the case with the people Of the con-
fcderacy at this time The ~ uM alarming rumoys
every fear hast ound voice. and everything open to
the tale It tells Measues g precaution con9red 10
D esage disaster When the uGgons aud ck are ordered
10 NE 1t inferred that the army about
Is time to proclaim order in the ranks and give the
ing command Steady ~ Let every return to his post
and give all his energy to the performance of his duty
while he listens To the words Of encouragement from the
soldiers in the front Regard all street the
soldiers do those d the camp They know that mono Of
the latter are wholly true and most Of them entirely
false They only frghten those who already scared
Try to trace Of them to its source, and you will find
that, in ninety nine cases out OF hundred the evi
dcnce in support Of 1t would fail to convince rational
and cool man Of the least important fact.


Measures OF precaution do not indicate doubt of
cess. To take of ones clothes before going into the
water does not prove that expects 70 be drowned
Every encumbfance must be sent to the before the
battle, however secure the victory may be. The real
danger always less than imagination Ypresents it 70 be-
Look steadily at a ghost and IL will, vanish.


Danger Affects the enemy much as it does II we
feel like retreating IL pressed, may be very
tan that he VIII do the If We press him We should
not forget in dwelling upon our own difficulties and
barrassinents, that tho enemy has his also.


The issae OF battle is not in the hands Of An
combinations or skill and the power of numbers and
In the words Of the old Scotch version


The IL not TO him that's got


The longest legs To run,


Nor the batteile 90 the peopciIe


That shoots the longest gun.


A critical moment Is critical TO both sides General
Jackson (>tonewalD told that the enemy was
his dank lie answered, Then am his iank
toon IL IL well known that those bold mannuvrcs
which decisive successful always expose the party
undertaking them TO disaster usually great In proportion
to the audacity OF his own movements.


We will conclude these suggestions with application
Of this thought To our present situation To effect the
concentration OF his forces against Richmond, which





his troops from every other part OF the country. To
make risk all upon single issue he has been
pehcd To do the same Should he lose any one of the
three armies now convergng upon us his whole plan OF
campaign would be broken up. Neither OF the others
ID resist the combination Of forces which his policy
has rendered necessary. Our country except the coast
towns, would be relieved from the presence an enemy
We could repair the railroads that have been damaged
Tho spirits Of people would revive Absenees would
return to duty ani II Congress would provide for the
employment Of negro soldiers, could raise force
rc-enter Tennessee and Kentucky far rapidly
than the enemy could provide one to oppose
The result would be that the North would
have TO begin the work Of suhjugaton again
For II destroy the army or General Sherman, for
example, could then give fun empoymot. to the rest
of the federal troops now operating in Virginia and North
Carolina None OF them could be withdrawn 10 defend
Tennessee and Kentucky Nor could be taken for
that purpose from beyond the Mississippi, without
posing Missouri and abandoning Arkansas The enemy
would have to provide army for the West. What
that would cost him. what the effect would be upon the
hope and spirits OF his people can readily be determined
y very cer'an thar our condition would Do TAR more
aincd with the loss of Richmond Charleston and
Wilmington, than II before General Grants combna-
tons began Lot then, look at facts they really
Let not bo deceived into attaching undue i'm
porance 70 losses which greater In name than In
reality but learn 10 value results according their real
significance Lot US be calm and resolved knowing that
II In danger ~ the enemy Let do our work
earnestly and quietly fall into line and be longer
startca but steady


Action OF the Virginia senate on che Me-
gro Enlistment Question.