Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-05-03
From the New York Wnrli.l
THE SINEWS OF WAR.

THE S1NEWS OF WAR;"
We yesterday stated some reasons
| which seem to US conclusive why war.
though it might check, would not ar
rest the industrial and commercial
growth of the North, We now purpose
to show that the Confederate States are
in no position to sustain the burdens Of
protracted war, and that the prosecu-
tion of such war would weigh on
those States with crushing force. We
went into some showing of the steady
growth of British industry and wealth
during the great European conflict
which followed the French Revolution
and terminated with the fall of the first
Napoleon. We used that growth as an
argument to show that war does not ne
cessarily paralyze industry and prevent
ace umulation But there is another
fact, forming part of the history of that
period, which has a significant bearing
ON the ability Of the rebel eonfederacy
70 sustain the burden Of long war
The fact to which we allude is the i'm
portant one that Great Britain, in the
mi ghty struggle against France, more
than doubled her national debt. The
great significance of this fact lies in the
illustration it affords Of the inability
even Of a great, powerful and prosper
Gus nation to conduct long, war with
out depending largely on its credit for
the means of carrying it on.
Contrast the wealth, prosperity, re-
sources, stability, and prestige of the
British nation with those of the Confed-
crate States There is no people SO ac-
customed to taxation, or who have SO
habitually borne the exactions Of the tax
gatherer, with so few manifestations OF
restiveness, as the people Of Great Brit
ain. The first Of modern nations in
commerce, the largest producer Of man
ufactured goods, the most improved in
agriculture, abounding III wealth, and
the great money center of Europe and
Of the world, it was still unable to de-
fray the annual expenses of war out Of
the annual proceeds Of the public taxes.
But il Great Britain, with her wealth
and resources, could not support such
burdens without making large use of
her credit, how can the Confederate
States hope to do it? Those States, like
all purely agricultural communities,
have paratively little accumulated
wealth
They have little capital invested in
shipping, few manufactures, not many
railroads, and they are not dotted all
over like the North, with fourishing
cities and villages. Lacking these evi-
deuces of accumulated wealth, and hav-
ing large proportion Of non producers
among their white population, they have
no taxable resources which will enable
them to maintain war, and they must
depend mainly on their credit for the
means of prosecuting enc.- I heir com
mcrce wifi be cut OF by blockade OF
their leading ports. Their people, who
have never felt the burden Of direct taxes
for federal purposes, will soon learn to
curse the tax gatherer with more fervor
than they now do the people of the North.
And yet all that he can extort from them
will bear small proportion to what they
will mead in a war with the United
States.
But Of whom will the Confederate
States borrow? Not to any great ex-
tent of their own banks and citizens, for
the plain reason that these have no re-
sources which would not be speedily ex
hausted by war with so formidable a
power as the United States. In the
great money centers Of Europe not a
dollar of Southern loan could be ne
gotiatcd Foreign capitalists would
inquire how they will get their money
back If the attempt to found a new re-
public should miscarry. To what pur-
pose is it that the new Confederacy of
fers to guarantee its loans by an export
duty on cotton, when the odds are so
greatly against its success? If it fails,
what becomes Of the export duty
Who then will pay the debt? Not the
United States, certainly, against whom
this rebellion is directed; not the Con
federate States, for if they fill there
will be no such Government. IF the
debt should be distributed among the
several States that had participated in
the rebellion, the capitalist would hardly
expect such States as Florida and Mis-
sissippi to be in better condition to
pay than they were to meet the debts
they had incurred and repudiatea be-
fore the war The Confederate States,
then, necessarily depending on credit
for the sinews OF war, unable to borrow
a dollar abroad, and but limited sums
by forced loans of their banks at home,
would speedily reach the end of their
career. The people, ground down by
Oppressive and intolerable taxation,
would rise against Government which
has never been submitted to them for
their consent, and demolish it without
remorse, seeking refuge from its exac-
tons under the protecting flag OF the
Union