Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1861-05-01
From the N. Y. World ]
TIE SINEWs OF WAR.

A@A Jan u W y OE w Az.
e We yesterday stated some reasons whicl
seem to US conclusive why war. though j
: might check. would not arrest the industri
al and commercial growth of the North
We now propose to show that the Confed
: crates States are in no position to sustain
: the burdens of protracted war, and thai
: the prosecution of such a war would weigh
on those States with crushing force. W.
went into some showing of the steady
growth Of British industry and wealth du.
ring the great European conflict which fol.
lowed the French Revolution, and termi.
mated with the fall of the fret Napoleon.
We used that growth as an argument "a
show that war docs not necessarily paral.
we industry and prevent accumulation
But there is another fact, that forms part
of the history of that period. which has a
significant bearing on the ability of the
rebel confederacy to sustain the burden of
long war The fact to which we alIude
is the important one that Great Britain. in
the mighty struggle against France, more
that doubled her national debt The great
significance of this fact lies in the illustra-
tiOn it affords of the inability even of a
great, powerful and prosperous nation to
conduct a long war without depending
largely on its credit for the means Of car
rying it on.
] Contrast the wealth, prosperity, resOur-
ces, stability, and prestige of the British
nation with those of the Confederate States.
There is no people so accustomed to taxa
ton, Or who have so habitually borne the
exaetions of the tax gatherer, with so few
manifestations of restiveness, as the people
of Great Britain. The first of modern ma
tiOns in commerce the largest produces of
manufactured goods. the most improved in
agriculture. abounding in wealth, and the
great money center of Europe and of the
world. it was still unable to defray the an
nual expense of war out of the annual pro-
ceeds Of the public taxes. But if 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 comparatively little ae-
cumulated wealth.
They have little capital invested in ship
ping. few manufactures, not many railroads
and they are not dotted all over. like the
North, with fOurishing cities and villages
Lacking these eTidences of accumulated
wealth, and having large proportion of
non- producers among their white popula-
tion; they have no taxable resources which
will enable them to maintain a war, and
they must depend mainly on their credit
for the means of prosecuting one Their
commerce will be cut of by blockade of
their leading ports. Their people, who
have never felt the burden of taxation for
federal purposes, viii 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
need in a war with the United States.
But of whom will the Confederate States
borrow? Not to any greet extent of their
own banks and citizens, for the plain rea-
son that these have no resources which
would not be speedily exhausted by war
with so formidab bic power as the Uuited
States. In the great money centcrs of Eu-
rope not dollar Of Southern loan could
be negotiated. Foreign capitalists would
inquire how they will get their money back
if the attempt to found a new Republic
should miscarry. To what purpose is it
that the new COnfederacy offers to guam
antee Its loans by an export duty on cot
ton, 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 isdireeted; not
the Confederate States, for if they fail there
will be no such Government. If the debt
should be distributed among the several
States that had participated in the rebel
lion. the capitalists would hardly expect
such States as Florida and Mississippi to
be in better condition to pay than they
were to meet the debts they had incurred
and repudiated before the war. The Con-
federate States, then, necessarily depend
ing on credit for the sinews Of war, unable
to borrow dellar 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 intOleraole taxation,
would rise againsta government which has
never been submitted to them for their
consent, and demolish it without remorse,
seeking refuge from its sxactions und Ter the
protecting flag of the Union.