New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-10-17
RESOURCES or. THE souTH.

& $50
The Albany Evening Journal, edited by Thurlowl
Weed, and the home organ of Secretary Seward,
is very much astonished, COMPOUNDED and put cut
by the vast resources Of the rebels" 1t wants
to know how they have so many men in the field,
where they come from, how they get the money to
carry on their operations, and where they have
procured so many arms and so much ammunition.
1t sees only one explanation of the fact, as to
the arms and the money, leaving the question of
troops unsolved. 1t says that we imported guns in
large quantities from Europe before the blockade
was instituted, and that the money with which we
are carrying on the war has been furnished by
foreign nations! s
In all this, the Southern reader need not be told,
Lord Thurlow is very much mistaken. Compare
lively few arms have been procured from Europe,
and no money. The South is waging this war, or
rather defending herself against the war waged
against her by the North, with her own resources
of men. money, and supplies.
Some of the public arms which were in the
Southern States at the time of secession were
taken by us for our own protection and defence
but nothing like our proper share and due proper
ton of them. We did not have, of these arms,
enough to supply half the troops we have put in
the field. For the remainder, let the Journal I'M
derstand that the resources of the Soush respect
OF this as of many other things, are nothing like so
scany as the vast majority of the Northern people
suppose. Ineomprehensible as it may appear to
the North, the Southern people are not rude, ig-
norant and helpless race. We make bold to say
that they have some mechanical skill, some indus
try, some money, some inventive genius, and that
all these have been developed and called out by
the necessity which the North has imposed upon
US of defending ourselves against bitter and ma
lignant enemy Of our peace and security,
As it is no secret how we have supplied ourselves
with arms, we would tell the Journal, if we had a
chance, that we have made great many at home,
but that considerable number have been OBJ
tanned on different ttle-felds, where they have
been thrown away by fugacious Yankees We
have dug the iron Gro out Of the mountains of Yir-
ginia and Tennessee, and converted it into steel
and iron, and our mechanics have made the small
guns and our foundries the large ones. If it would
be any satisfaction to know the fact, we will say
nrther that the process Of manufacture and cast
ng is still going on in sundry places and in divers
and that although we count largely on
supplies yet to be obtained from the enemy on the
ieids Of tight, we are not dependent upon that re-
source altogether, but can supply ourselves at
home. Even were we deficient in arms made espe-
cially for war, we have all through the South such
things as shotguns, bowie knifes Arkansas tooth
picks, and other implements of destruction, of
which the Yankees, with good reason, have such
holy horror So, also, we have lead and iron for
balls, and we make gunpowder in any quantity.
We nave plenty OF ammunition, a plenty of arms
and plenty of men to stand behind those arms to
repel an invading enemy. We have enough, at
least, to whip all the Yankees that may choose to
give US battle.
AS to the money our men are not fighting for
pay, but for the defence of their country. But we
have money enough, and our credit to-day is bet
ter than that of the North. We are not overrun
by horde OF swndling contractors, and plumber.
ed OF our substance by the high officers of our
Government. A nation fighting for liberty always
flnds, some how or another enough money, enough
arms, and enough men to make resistance--pro-
vided the people are united and determined. His
tory furnishes no instance of the contrary.
The journal gives expression to a very comm on
error prevalent at the North, when it says that |
i hitherto the South has been dependent upon us
for most Of the products Of skill and genius, and
has produced next to nothing except the fruits of
the soil.n We have not been dependent upon
the North at Gil, in the sense in which the word is
less without such things, and could not get along
at all without procuring them elsewhere. We |
have gotten them at the North, not because they
were not procurable at home if necessity required,
but because we did not, ct the time think it expe
dent to diversity our labor. In other words, we
were content to apply most of our labor to agri- |
culture, and exchange with the North for its manu-
lectures. The war has broken up all that. The |
South gains, in this respect, by separation pre-
cisely what the North loses. But the South has |
never been dependent" in the sense of being
helpless The South has the SOIL the climate, the !
and the natural advantages generally |
which constitute her the richest portion of the |
globe, as she is destined to become the most pros
porous. There are more things in heaven and
earth, Thurlow-and particularly that portion of
the earth constituting the Southern Confederacy-
than were ever dreamed of in your philosophy.