Washington telegraph., 1862-01-22
CONTEST OF ENDURANCE. From the

fleet, that the present contest is not to b.
may, csanot possibly be-decided b.
strength of arms The conflict of armies
the roar Of batteries, the sulphurious tu
mults of the battle field, must all occu
of course. They are ali necessary to
state of war, and but for this experiment
as it were, one nation or one people wouiC
never be convinced of its inability to over
slaugh and enslava another 1t Is curious
nevertheless. to consider how little Is
brought about by our greatest victories L
alter the situation of the parties TO the
contest Manassas did not advance us al
inch towards the Potomac. Oak Hills Is
row under the control of Federal scouts
The banks of the Potomac opposite Lees
burg are still in the possession of the ene'
nv. We are in no more secure condition
at Columhus than before the battle Of
Belmont.
Still, these brilliant victories are work
ing cut for US their natura fruits ln an
other fashion. They have imposed upon
the North the necessity of putting forth
gigantic exertions, to which events are
proving her unequal. We have not con-
quered the North, and, by armies, never
can. But We have proven ourselves ln-
vincible. We have taught them their
folly, and exposed to them their ignorance.
Their sufferiugs and disgraces have been
the successive recoils upon their heads of
the attempted perpetration of great and
unnatural crimes, and they are NV as
sured that the Southern people are united,
daring and equal to their own defence
The worst harm we ever did the North
was to withdraw ourselves from her cor
nexion. That sealed her fate, and fixed
her inevitably as secondary power on
the Western Hemisphere. She aooufd
bring on her own destruction, and it came.
She could not have retrieved her fortunes
then, by making pence. BY making war
she does not incur the penalty of being
over-run and subjugated by Southern ar
mics. but she completes her own destruc-
tion from another quarter, and in place
of remaining a secondary power, is in
imminent danger of the complete loss of
/ L ! 1
She has no available resources. She
cannot compete with European nations in
the industrial arts. The production and
expectation of breadstuffs is too precarious
and unimportant to form Il basis of wealth
She was our broker, banker, carrier,
fisher and trader We furnished the
money that laid down her railroads, and
built her palaces aud gave her that stu
pendous aspect of wealth that for long
time deceived ourselyes-rntil the last
moment deceived her completely.
When the issue came and reflection
was awakened, it was easily foreseeu that
the contest was to be decided by powers of
financial endurance, aud that almost all
| the available resources were our own.
Results have followed SO accurately as
to make political prophecy seem almost All
easy thing. After nine months of war,
the Southern Confederacy is, if anything
stronger to-day than six months ago. In
the midst of blockade confning her
products to her plantations, she has the
full control of ample means to conduct the
war, What is more, the sympathies of
| foreign nations are with her, and their
| eager Instincts of interest have alre adv
| taught them the value of her alliance
Capital is soon drawn to follow the rising
star of growing fortune, and our credit
is safe. Each year brings US a fresh aud
unfailing food of wealth-uot apparent
wealth which we must eat or lose but
wealth which whitens seas will sails, aud
is gold produciug-tobacco, rice, cotton,
sugar, every leaf aud fibre and grain of
which can be coined Like the fabled
giant of the ancieuts, who recovered
strength with every contact with his
mother earth, the South gathers strength
from the soil each successive season, to
command the capital of the world We
see no reason why the contest might not
with her be endless.
But the North-her end is near at
hand. She is already far gone-almosi
exhausted. Bankruptcy is inevitable
Her fate comes down upon her with tn,
certainty of doom. She has contractec
hundreds of millions of dollars OF deb
since the war begun. She wants six hun
dred millions more, and has nothing t,
pledge for it. Nothing to sell. Foreigr
nations are becoming alenated from her
They begin already openly to despise her
To repudiate her friendship aud defy heI
enmity. The English papers are full o
it. France responds across the channel
and the tone is all the same. German,