inter the enemy effectually, so the earth was merely thrown over them,
forming mounds, which the rains and the wind have since leveled. And now
the ground is thickly strewn with the bleaching bones of the invaders.
The flesh is gone, but their garments remain. He says he passed through
a wood, not a tree of which escaped the missiles of the contending
hosts. Most of the trees left standing are dead, being often perforated
by scores of Minie-balls, but thousands were prostrated by cannon-balls
and shells. It will long remain a scene of desolation, a monument of the
folly and wickedness of man.

And what are we fighting for? What does the Northern Government propose
to accomplish by the invasion? Is it supposed that six or eight million
of free people can be exterminated? How many butchers would be required
to accomplish the beneficent feat? More, many more, than can be sent
hither. The Southern people, in such a cause, would fight to the last,
and when the men all fell, the women and children would snatch their
arms and slay the oppressors. Without complete annihilation, it is the
merest nonsense to suppose our property can be confiscated.

But if a forced reconstruction of the Union were consummated, does the
North suppose any advantage would result to that section? In the Union
we could not be compelled to trade with them again. Nor would
intercourse of any kind be re-established. Their ships would be
destroyed, and their people could never come among us but at the risk of
ill treatment. They could not maintain a standing army of half a
million, and they could not disarm us in such an extensive territory.

The best plan, the only plan, to redeem the past and enjoy blessings in
the future, is to cease this bootless warfare and be the first to
recognize our independence. We are exasperated with Europe, and like
the old colonel in Bulwer's play, we can like a brave foe after fighting
him. Let the North do this, and we will trade with its people, I have no
doubt, and a mutual respect will grow up in time, resulting, probably,
in combinations against European powers in their enterprises against
governments on this continent.

DECEMBER 8TH.--A letter from Gen. Lee, received to-day, states that, in
the recent campaigns, he has experienced the effects of having inferior
artillery and fixed ammunition. But this discrepancy is rapidly
disappearing, from captures of the enemy's batteries, etc. He recommends
that our 12-pound