The Belt Of Desolation

.trom Uio Kichmond Whig. Day by dhy tbe track of the destroy or becoines broader. Two thirds "o Virginia, thirds of Tonnessee, the coasts of North and South Carolina, pflrt oí Georgia, nearly all of Florida, Northern Mi&sissippi, Western and Southern Louisiana, a great part of Arkansas and Missouri have airead v been laid waste, and every hour brings tfdings of fresh destruction. Dispatch es ot Cüaturday informed us that the enemy had destroyed a million dollars wortli of property on the Combabee and 8tolun a tbotisand negroes; it was but a fow days ago that they ravagecl the couuty of' Mat-kews in this State, and even while we write, tidings come te us that they are burning private houses and destroying every grain of corn they can lay their hands on in the counties of King and Queen. Enough Üabeen aaid of. the barbarism of this mod'e O-S warfare, -and too much has to be oonfessed1 oí the entii'e impunity with which it is carried on. Uur outcries and our admissiona of weakness are the hellish joy of the foe, without stimulating our troops, government or people to the pitch of retributivo vengeance. The belt of desolation widens hourly, nor is there much prospect of an abatement of the evii." Citizens complain of the Government, which, in turn, complsins of the citizens. Meantime common inquiry is made as to the xistenco and present whereabouts of the organized forces oi the Confederacy. We may ba gure this state of fchings will continuo as long as the war is waged exclusively on Confedérate oil. Every day the enemy remains in our territory will add to the width of the belt of desolation, and they who may now tancy themselves out of danger will soon find out their mistake. Ii a thousand Yankee cavalry can ride ontiröly through the State of Mississippi without molestation, what is to hinder a like number from going through Virginia, North and South Carolina, to Port Royal ? Certainly, unarmed and ünorganized citizens will not hinder them. The belt of desolation serves many purposes of tho Yankee nation. It opens a way to free labor and northern settlors; it diminishes productions and concentrates southern population within limirs idadequate to their support;,- it: prepares a place for Yankee emigration, if peace on the basis of eeparation is declared. But this is not all. It ansvrors the purposes of war as peaco, by interposing a country desti tute of supplies between our own and tha Yankee border. Thus it is a eafeguard against invasión. If Lea would ndvance, ho must move through a desert, dragging immense trains of food behind hnn. The case is the same with Bragg, with íohnston, with Prico. Indeed, wo hoar that Price wiil find it diffloult, if not impossible, to enter Missouri. In front of all our large arinies lies a waste, where there is food &r neither man uor beast. Girded by bete of desolation, tho North is safe from invasión; the broador the belt the greater its security. As the rnonths wane and the years rolt on, the South, unless something can be done, will become, in the lunguage of Scripture, "aboaiination of desolation," We bel'ieve that something will be done. The nectjssitios of the case demand it impera,üvely; would that wo could be uure that it will be done speedily. The cup can be returned to the lips of the North druffged wilh tenfold bitterDess. Merc) to ourselves demands this act of rehubutive justicó to them