University of South Carolina Libraries
TH E ft E F 8 0 U T Jtl. JOS. H. SEARS, Editor and Proprietor. WWKOYAL. SATURDAY, DEC 10, 18G3. The New South can be obtained of the following persons: J. C. Alexander, P. M., Beaufort. J. W. Allen, P. M., St. Augustine, Fla. W. C. Morrill, F. M. L. It. Brooks, 39tli 111. Vols. E. 1). Doollttle, Vol. Engineers. AVm. Mason, 5'2d Pa. Vols. Sergt C. S. Gay, Co. M. 1st Mass. Cavalry. Regiments will please send in their orders the ?arly part of the week. pni itihai sppnin atihnq . The recent brilliant victories of the Federal arms have induced numerous partisan journals at the North, to offer their views in regard to a reconstruction of the Government, and the final restoration of all the States of the Union. These speculations are premature. 1"hev have no national significance. They are crude, unripe reflections, and have no foreshadowing influence. Besides we are not out of the icootls yet. The Kebellion is not dead. It may be half finished, but we had best do till the fighting, smash the Confederacy entirely up before we attempt political jugglery and "slight of hand " to the Constitution. The capriciousness of political power give but little stability to promises, even in limes of peace; but at this period they would not be worth the paper on which they are written. And to offer * the olive branch to an enemy before he is conquered, and who is as deliant as at the commencement of the struggle, is perfectly absurd. The rebels have not sued for peace. Thev have not acknowledged the hopelessness of their cause. And notwithstanding the partial success of Meade, jaid the substantial victory of Grant, they stand to-day confronting our armies, and seem determined to arbitrate only by the logic of battle. How absurd, then, to offer them terms of amnesty, -or conciliation, or to speculate upon political! problems at this time. ! Every loyal citizen desires a speedy termination -of hostilities ; and every patriot hopes to see the war so finished as to admit of no discordant and incongruous elements to enkindle future strife. How this can be accomplished other than on the broad basis of Freedom, we cannot well divine. Slavery iras the great fountain-head of the liebelii-jn, and from it have flowed all the fruitful evils ol' | sectional liate and discord. To harmonize the ! Xorth and South, and yet leave the chief and j original cause of mischief intact, and protected ; .and defended at the expense of all the national j interests, is to us incomprehensible. It will re- j quire something more than political speculations i and partisan legerdemain to settle a question so vast and complicated in all its aspect*. Political sophists think that granting amnesty t and pardon to the rebels?killing the fatted calf? ; eating themselves back into the Union, is just the .? #.< - - I way to <10 it. lsy tnis means they nope to patch up our broken and dissevered Union ; making it j stronger and more adhesive than ever before. Preposterous infatuation! A political compromise will be of no possible value. It will leave j us exactly where we were before hostilities commenced , and the blood of two hundred thousand men will be shed in vain. And if old political hacks, the dullards and sophists of either, or all parties, arc delegated to adjudicate and settle our difficulties after the sword is hud aside, it were better that our battles had never been fought? j . better that our victories were aievev won. Wlien the Rebellion is absolutely dead?Grant has broken its legs, if not its back?then will come a crisis more to be dreaded than that in which we are now passing through. It will be the resurreetion of nnrtv?the re-union of Govern iment cheats anil plunderers, and the perpetration of even-thing low and beastly in politics. We ' shall have an array of politicians numerically ! larger than Alexander lead to conquest; more cruel and devastating than Murius marshalled in J the waving days of llome. The ending of the ; war (judging from the partisan press) will com- j : mence a tournament in politics?new and vast i ; schemes of usurpation?a grand raid on the i j treasury?a magnificent steeple-chase for plan-' j der and power, and a saturnalia and hullabaloo among politicians generally, God help us! LETTER FROM MORRIS ISLAND. Correspondence of The New South. Moeris Island, S. C., Dee. 11th, ISC". The dearth of news on this island was broken on Sunday last by the appalling disaster to the Monitor Weehaicken, which went down in the terrible Xorther of that day; at ubout three o'clock, j P. II. How the accident occurred, what caused | her to founder, is even at this lato date, unknown I to us. The Signal Officers here attended to communicate with the flag-ship, in order to ascertain the particulars; but with the exception of learning that thirty souls, three officers and twenty-seven men went down with the ill-fated ship?"never more to rise until the sea shall give up her dead"?all is I mere conjecture and supposition, j The Weehawken was commanded by Capt. Calhoun ; she was one of the first turreted-ships built, ?and had performed some of the most daring feats and valuable sendees of the squadron. It was the lyeehaiekin that lad the iron-clad fleet hi the first attack on Siuntor, on the seventh of April Jast; receiving the concentrated fire of that fort, also the broadsides of Wagner, Moultrie, and .Gregg, as well as the fire from the various batteries on James Island. She was the first in that glorious attack, and the last of our fleet to retire--sending the last shot into the enemy's works. She was then commanded by Capt. Rodgehs, now pu the "Dictator." The melancholy fate of the Weehatchen, and of the brave, proud hearts that shared her honors and final destiny, suggests many sad thoughts, and a wish that she might have " gone down, " (if j at all,) in a contest with the-enemy?proudly loading the squadron, as she did in April last?hr.vvyng j the hurricane of shot and shell, and going down ; with the old flag waving defiance to the foe. MASONIC LODGS OX TOI.LY ISLAND. A few days since, being on a flying visit to ' Headquarters, I visited the Masonic Lodge build- j ing, recently completed. It is a beautiful affair? ' the structure being fifty feet long, and some.twen- ! ty-five wide; covered with canvass and tarpaulin. ! The interior is thatched, (east and west walls) ' with palmetto-leaves ; the rafters and posts with evergreens, interspersed with red berries of the 1 hofly, or holm-tree ; making a pleasing ami cheer-1 ing contrast to the eye. As the Lodge is used em . Sundays for religious worship, it has a beautiful j t\ in . i?..i .i - ii. A ii. TT .11 .1 : uorie A liar, lesioouea wiui x uinieuo, noiiy iuki Magnolia. So magnificent a temple, of a christian ' anil brotherly fraternity, on that wilderness island, ! called r.p visions of magic and dreams of encliant-1 meut. Who bnilt it ??where did it come from ?? under whose masterly genius was it created, em- ( hellished and made " a thing of beauty, and a joy forever?" Somebody said Lieut. D..C. 11 bowk, ' now Quarter-Master to the Engineer Corps, was , the artist, architect and builder. But I can't say. j XTW FJ.AG-STAJT AT XIEAD-QrABTEKS. Saturday last was a gala-dav on Folly, in dedi- j eating (is that right ?) the new and splendid flagstaff front ing the General's Head-Quarters. I hc^ar 1 CaI Hi'av.To fnviiitliofl 4Tin mnci/> i!a_ ! vuav v?/i? t vivi a uctuvi iuiui>nivvi ii*v aiaia^av 9 \ivw laehnients from the. Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, : and the Engineer Corps, were the guard, and that Jack Hamilton's celebrated battery, fired the sa- . lute. General Gill mole ran up the fiag;Asst Adjt. General Btt.oip. "did" the preliminaries, . and George Shea, Esij., of the New York bar, delivered an address, which I am told was a scholarly production; terse and significant in its review and foreshadowing*, of this heroic besieging army. It was also creditable alike to his oratorical abilities and to his crenerons appreciation ox" the brave 44 soldiers of the ItepuLlic." Further particulars of the W.?ehawken calamity?Explosion in Sumter?Harbor cbstructicns coming down?Soldier shot for Desertion?Skeleton rebels about. Morris Island, S. C., Dec. 17th, 18G3. The only additional items known here, relative to the Weehateken calamity, is the cause of the disaster, and a partial list of the victims. On the day she went down, her forecastle hutch was left open, and there being a " Norther," with a rough sea at the time, and as shot and shell were acciK undated in that part of the ship, she filled and sunk in less than three minutes! Thirty-one men were loot, four of whom were Engineers ;?names, as follow s, viz: Augustus Mitched, 3d Assistant Engineer, George W. McGowax, '< 44 Mil Maeriex, " 44 Mr. Spuxburx, 44 " The names of the other unfortunate men I cannot learn, as I have no means of communicating with the fleet. Capt. Bukce was in command of the Weehaicken on the day she foundered, but at the time of the accident, was absent on the flag ship. On the 11th inst., an explosion occurred in the ruins of Fort Sumter?sending the debris " sky high," and making many of ua believe that the Bebs. were deserting that citadel of fame. Many of the Confederate garrison (in the fort,) were seen climbing and scrambling over the North West angle, as if trying to escape. Probably it was an accidental explosion. The rag of Treason yet floats there. For several days after the recent severe storm and gale, large quantities of hewn-timber, plank, etc., came ashore at the North end of this island? indicating that somo of the obstructions of the channel were washed away. One large box, perhaps lifty feet long by twenty-five wide, also came ashore near the Inlet. It was bnilt like a floating battery, but may not have been used for that purpose. If these wero a pait of the "obstructions" to the main ship-channel, as many believe, now is .1 A * _ il. . VT A. . At M 1 i tne ume lor uie ..>avy 10 -go in ana smasn things generally. An admirable, if not an Admiral idea! One ofthe^saddest scenes that occur in war, was witnessed here yesterday. Private .John Kendaix, Company " G," 3d New Hampshire Volunteers, was shot for desertion. Ilis ease was a very aggravated one ; he having deserted from his regiment?gone into another (Union) [camp, and declared himself "a deserter from the enemy," etc.. expecting probably to be sent North. The Court-ilartial found him "guilty the sentence was confirmed, and duly carried out yesterday. I did not witness the execution?my unsophisticated mind not liking such scenes. The high tides of the past week licked up mucch of this Island ; and also un-earthed large numbers of the rebel dead, near Fort Putnam ;?in fact the beach here lias bceu hideously ornamented, with the dry bones of the Rebellion. I saw aui Army Correspondont, to day, walking off with. the skull of some rebellious chevalier. "Alas, pvx>r Yorick !"?""Where be your gibes now?your gambols ? your songs? your flashes of merri-. mont ? when you thought of knocking the Federal. u muu eicnuu : Tubjll-Cais;. 'm m m ' SE&EKAudP-The habitues of Union Square w.ere the of nous repast of music Monday.evetmj^ fr?n the ^jL?ruid, under the leadership.of Mr. GrtV. IngaiiLS. The choicest ope rati# morceaux were rendered in an artistic manner, not forgetting our own National Melodies. Each mem-. ber will please accept the thanks of ourselves, and; those who sere present.