The New York herald., 1862-03-02

"King Cotton and John Bull would surely come
to the rescue before Christmas.
Without sufficient supply of arms, ma
terials and munitions of war, notwith-
standing the stealings of Floyd, and with
out workshops, without navy, and unable to
make any large importations Of arms or muni-
tions of war from Europe, Davis pleads that his
government and the Southern people have
'done all which human power and foresight
enabled them to accomplish, although they
have not been able to compete with the govern
ment of the United States, the workshops OF
the North, our navy, our unimpeded commerce
with all the world, and our well equipped and
overwhelming fleets and armies. Exactly So;
and it is pity that the leading conspirators
in this rebellion did not make this discovery
before the bombardment of Fort Sumter But
they went into their desperate enterprise with
foolish dependence upon lucky chances such
as the capture of Washington, and upon cotton,
England, and what they supposed the superior
fighting qualities of Southern men, entirely
overlooking the important fact that modern
warfare is determined by superior instruments
and a superior weight of artillery, by the work
shops which turn out these things and the ma
terials of war, and by the command of the sea,
and the superior facilities which it gives for the
concentration of overwhelming numbers at
given point.
But, even while admitting his deficiencies in
all these essentials, Davis is puzzled to account
for his reverses at Roanoke Island and Fort
Donelson, and he is waiting for more informa-
ton upon the subject. He is thus simply de-
luding his Congress with mystery which is no
mystery at all, or else his education at West
Point was wasted upon blockhead. He next
confesses that, under the idea Of a short war
and glorious independence to the South, his
soldiers were enlisted for short terms of SER
vice, and that these drawbacks have seriously
aided the enemy. But still, from re-enlist-
ments and new levies, he thinks the rebel
army within thirty days will amount to "four
hundred regiments of infantry, with proper
tionate forces of cavalry and artillery" We
dare say that this means total force not ex-
ceeding three hundred thousand men within
thirty days.
Thirty days! But the question is, what are
his forces now in the field? for within thirty
days this war may be substantially ended. Da-
Wis confesses that sthe process of furlough and
re-enlistment in progress for the last month
had so far weakened and disorganized our
forces as to impair our ability for successful de-
fence;" and, though he processes to believe that
that difficulty is now surmounted, we think it
highly probable that he keeps his trunks all
packed for journey to safer latitude than
that of Richmond, upon the shortest notice
But the financial system of the Confederate
government is presented by Davis as something
truly admirable. They shave no hoating debt"
which is not very wonderful, inasmuch as they
have adroitly avoided this inconvenience by
obligations to redeem their bonds and Treasury
notes at some convenient time after the recog-
milton Of their Southern confederacy. The war
has cost their Treasury only one hundred and
seventy millions Of dollars-less, says Davis
than one-third of its cost to the United States
But he forgets to specify how many of their SOL
diers remain unpaid; the amount of the forced
contributions drawn from planters, farmers, mer-
chants, mechanics and laborers, and the amount
of the forced and voluntary contributions in
money, arms, equipments, clothing, horses,
wagons cattle and provisions, by States, cities,
counties, companies and individuals. We dare
say that, including all these items, the actual
cost of the rebel army, man for man, has been
much greater than ours, Notwithstanding the
wretched equipment, clothing, food, transporta-
ton and hospital arrangements and supplies
on the rebel side, and the complete outfit and
unexampled comforts in all these essentials on
our side. The prisoners captured at Fort Donel-
son and at Roanoke Island are upon these mat
ters the living witnesses of the most miserable
financial supervision of any army in the civil
lied world
And here we drop the subject. Davis con-
fesses that his Southern confederacy is fail
ure, that the bubble has collapsed, and he
vainly endeavors to maintain for it yet q little
longer show of vitality, to save appearances
and to cover his impending retreat. The end
of the delusion is close at hand.
tIe npsh IN