Richmond Whig

The Burning of Chambersburg

Yankeeism is exulting over the burning of Chambersburg by McCausland. Such ululation, and for such a cause, is very music and soothing to us. McCausland, it is said, acted under orders from General Early. We hope it may turn out that the latter had orders from Gen. Lee, and thus General Lee, in his turn, followed the instructions of the President. If not so, we trust that the President will at once identify himself with the act by signifying his approval of it, and giving it the sanction of his official station. Nothing would gratify our people more than to ascertain that those who conduct the war on our side had at length determined to fight the enemy with their own weapons—the devil with fire. The torch may not be a legitimate implement of warfare against nations that recognize the obligations of a Christian in civil zation, but it is so against the Yankees. They have made it legitimate—the proof of which is to be seen in the ashes of Germantown and Middletown in this State, Washington, N. C., Bluffton, S. C., Darien and St. Mary's, Ga., Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Fla., Jackson, Miss., Greenville and other towns in Arkansas, Alexandria and New Iberia, La., Hickman, Randolph, Lake Providence, Bayou Sara, Plaquemine, Donaldsonville, and every other town on the Mississippi river, from the mouth of the Ohio to New Orleans, except Memphis, Natchez, Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. It was time that we had taught the Yankees that this was a game at which two could play—nay, more, a game in which the advantage is immensely in our favor, for nearly all the wealth of the North is combustible, and it is in reach of our armies, still ready to be got at. A million of dollars judiciously used would insure the destruction of hundreds of millions of property. New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, and their other Gothams, can be burnt as easily as Chambersburg, and must be burnt if the enemy continue this kind of war. If the Government lack nerve for this sort of work, it can be effected by private combinations. We threw out some hints on this subject some time ago, and had stud to conclude, from the responses that reached us, that money and men enough could be had to lay every chief city of the North in ashes, and this without the assent or even the knowledge of the Government.

If the subjects of Abraham, the First, desire to exchange the sword for the fire-brand, they can proceed. They have played a losing game with the former, and we will see how it will be with the latter.