The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-19 00:00:00

The Situation of the South...

(lrom the Index.)

"All with one voice about the space of two hours cried
out, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians.' " Likely enough
the silversmiths prevailed for a time, and the multitude
were persuaded that Diana was a real god, and that St Paul
was an imposter. Clamour will often drown the voice of
reason. We doubt not the hoarse shouts of victory, proceed-
ing from those who fear that peace in America would put an
end to their profitable trade, have led some persons to sup-
pose that the South is about to pass under the Yankee
yoke. Wonderful credulity I Wonderful that any person
can believe that the smellest of mice has brought fcrth the
biggest of mountains. On Sept. 1 the North was sick of the
war; after four years of tremendous effort it was confessed
that the South was unconquered ; the cry was for M'Clellan
and peace; Mr Lincoln was deserted by many of his promi-
nent supporters ; the New Fork Herald, the ready exponent
of the popular sentiment, demanded an armistice; the Fede-
ral generals were urgent for reinforcements, but the Admi-
nistration postponed the draft, and gold was at 260. Ou
Oct. 1 gold in New York had fallen to 190, the old talk of
Southern subjection was renewed, Lincoln was the favourite
candidate, loyal contractors ceased their croaking, and
thanked God there was no chance of peace interfering with
their profits. Why this change? Has Richmond fallen?
Has Mobilo been captured ? Has Charleston surrendered
after a 500 days' siege ? No, not one of these events, which
might have palliated, though it could not justify, the North-
ern enthusiasm, has happened. Two reasons are assigned
for the ecstacy of the North. Gen, Sherman is in Atlanta,
asking and waiting for reinforcements, with a Confederate
army in his front and a Confederate force operating in his
rear. Gen, Sheridan, with 40,000 men, has at a cost of 5,000
men forced Early, with 20,000 men, to retreat to a fortified
position. Such are the achievements that Mr Lincoln's loud
mouthed prophets declare to be the immediate forerunners
of the conquest of the South. So they said after the fall
of Nashville, after the fall of New Orleans, after the fall of
Vicksburg though, after all these reverses, the South has,
with dauntless resolution and with undiminished strength,
chastised her insolent, boasting enemy. It is irksome for
us to answer such folly, but it is a duty from which we
must not shrink. The mendacity of the Federals does not
hurt the South. It signifies not to the Confederates that
Mr Lincoln for electioneering purposes thanks the Almighty
for bogus victories. But Mr Lincoln's prophets do not
labour in vain, Through their European organs they en-
snare many victims. The Federal Administration wants
men and money, and the one is procured in Ireland, and
the other Germany, by the audacious misrepresentations of
Mr Lincoln's European organs. Whether our warning be
heeded or not, it is incumbent upon us to expose the fraud.
Moreover, in the interests of peace we are bound to set forth
the true state of the case—for our silence might be con-
strued into an admission that the task of subjugation is not
hopeless, and so we might do harm to the cause of peace.
We are aware that our sensitiveness in this respect will
be called pusillanimity, just as the frankness of the Confe-
derate authorities, who will not lie and call defeat victory, is
referred to as evidence of despair. But we never have con-
cealed, and never will conceal, our desire to see this vain
and bloody war ended. We are not War Christians, and
we could not enjoy the carnage, even though we could coin
every drop of blood into cents and dollars.
Frequent changes of fortune are characteristic of all wars,
and though in the present American war it will be admitted
that the balance of success is heavily in favour of the Con-
federates, their success has not been uninterrupted, Look
at the campaigns of the past spring and summer. In Florida
a Federal army was utterly routed. On the Red River
Banks was signally defeated. In vain attempts to get to
Richmond Grant sacrificed 100,000 men. Against this
what are the vaunted triumphs of the Federals? But we
are going to compare the military performances of North
and South. Victories in the field and the capture
of cites do not always presage a final triumph. If they did,
the Netherlands would not have escaped from the dominion
of Spain, and the United States would still have been
appendages to the Crown of England. It is a happy omen
that the South has been so fortunate in war, but her inde-
pendence rests upon a surer foundation than even the
triumphs of her military genius and her devoted heroism.
The North has not merely to conquer the Southern armies,
but also the Southern people. It has failed to do the first,
and the latter is a task the like of which has never yet been
accomplished.
It will not be denied that the North has been at her best
and the South has been at her worst, The North has put
forth all her strength, and iu four years has accumulated an
oppressive debt, and fearfully depleted her fighting popula-
tion. In 1861 she had abundance of money, abundance of
men, a navy without an opponent, and the Administration
was permitted to disregard all rights and laws in order to
push on the war. On the other hand, the South was taken
at a fearful disadvantage. The young Confederacy was
without an army and without arms. She was cut off from
the markets of Europe. In her vast territory there was not
a gun factory, not a rolling mill, not a powder mill. As
yet her iron mines has been unexplored ; as yet no saltpetre
had been collected in the country, Nay, even in the common
necessaries of life the Confederacy was deficient. She was
without clothing, and by a barbarous edict she was deprived
of medicines. Look at the Confederacy of to-day. In 1861
she was the most dependent, now she is the most indepens
dent, nation on the face of the earth. Now, if the blockade
were indeed effective, and the South completely cut off from
communication with the rest of the world, the Confederates
could continue the struggle, Necessary food they have in
abundance, and articles of luxury they have learnt to do
without. Soldiers and civilians aro comfortably clad in
homespun and long-cloth, the production of Southern cotton
mills. Patriot armies i❑ the South are not so gaudily ar-
rayed as the mercenaries of Mr Lincoln, but they are as
well furnished with weapons and ammunition. The North
has been at its best, and the South at her worst.
What has the North done ? Military critics who doubted
not the ultimate triumph of the South, were of opinion that
the Federal armies would march through the Confederacy
and occupy the principal towns of the South without much
opposition or difficulty. Very different, indeed, has been the
result. Except New Orleans and Nashville, no large town
in the Soule has been taken. Richmond, Charleston, Savan-
nah, Motile, and Wilmington have not been conquered;
yet all these places are comparatively accessible to the forces
of the enemy. The Mississippi River is closed against com-
merce, in spite of the gunboats of the Federals. InLouisiana

the enemy holds New Orleans and a few plantations. Texas
is almost free from the invader. Tho Federals are repre-
sented in Arkansls by a solitary garrison, Altogether the

invader holds less Southern territory now than-he did in
1853. But it the North has not been able to overcome the
South with unimpaired resources, how will she do so with a
crippled treasury and diminished army?

It may be asked if the South has not suffered as well as

the North, and if she has not less means to oppose to the
impaired resources of the enemy. Where is the evidence of
Southern exhaustion ? Is she in want of arms an ammuni-
tion ? Certainly not. Is she in want of food and clothing ?
Even the partisans of Mr Lincoln cease to prate about the
South being starved out, Are the Southern armies less
numerous ? They were never stronger—they wero never so
strong as at present. There has been a terrible loss of life,
but it is not an exhaustive loss, Does any one suppose that

he casualties on the Southern side—we mean the killed and
hen too severely wounded to resume service—are equal to
1,000 a week Now, a reference to the Southern popula-

tion table will show that the number of males annually
attaining the military age is 80,000, The accessions to the
army are greater than the most exaggerated estimate of
losses. The Southern armies, then, cannot be weakened by
the continuance of the war on a scale of the last four years,
and the North cannot increase its war power.
We have said that the North has to conquer not only the
armies but the people of the South. Now, the North has
not yet acquired a yard of Southern territory. The Federals
have held New Orleans for more than two years, yet they
have made no way in the State of Louisiana, and if the
Federal troops were withdrawn there would not be a ghost

of a union feeling in New Orleans. What would beeome

unionism in lientucky,iennessee, and Maryland if the
Federal forces were withdrawn ? It is only by force of arms
that Mr Lincoln can maintain loyalty in the North , he has
utterly failed in a single instance to convert by force of arms
a town or village of the South to unionism. w hat follows
from this ? If tho whole South is to be kept in the Union,
it must be garrisoned as well as overcome. But this can-
not be done. If the Southern people will not submit—if
they will contend to the last they cannot be subjugated.
" True I" exclaims the war Christian ; " then we will ex-

.erminate the people of the South." That, too, is an im.

possible task.: The experiment of exterminationg a people

Las been tried under far more favourable circumstances, and

has invariably and completely sailed. But in vain are all
the lessons of the past. History perpetually repeats itself.

The actors are different, the costumes are changed, the stage

is now, but the plot of the drama is the same. The worst
follies of the Governments of the Old World are repeated

by the Government at Washington.

When the colonies

revolted from the mother country, the colonists learned

how invincible is a resolute people, inhabiting a large coun-
try, against apparently overwhelming numbers. But the
lesson is forgotten; and we now find the North trying to

conquer the South, though the numerical odds are not nearly
so much in her favour as were the odds in favour of England
in the contest with her colonies. History abounds with

examples of subjugated nations, but there is no example of a
united people falling under a fur,,,ign dominion.
in writing on this topic wo are somewhat in the position
of the village pedagogue who euileavoured to prove to a
thick-skulled clodhopper an axiom of Euclid. What can

we do for those who dispute the logic of facts ? After

our years of war the South have larger armies in the field
;han at any former period. Does this point to her speedy

subjugatioir ? After four years of war the North occupies
less Southern territory than she did after two years of war.
Does this indicate the immediate conquest of the South ?
After four years of war the North has not brought a ham-
let within the Union. Does this indicate the coming sub-
• . _

mission of the South? The North has solicited the South

to come back to the -Union on her own terms, and the South
has refused all such overtures. Does this hold out any hope
of the restoration of the Union? Recruits in the North are
becoming scarce and dear, tho finances of the North are
becoming more and more deranged, the people of the North
are becoming more and more divided. Do these things pro-