The New York herald., 1862-01-03

Freghts were unchanged and engagements moderate
The Crisis OF the Rebelli0n-Ths Army
ana Congress.
Our Southern rebellion is now reduced to the
low condition of very sick man, whose waning
life from hour to hour is sustained by artificial
stimulants. A few days ago the central organs
Of JEFF Davis at Richmond were jubilant over
the prospect of an alliance, offensive and defen-
siye, with England. Their immoderate JOY over
this anticipation betrayed the desperate straits
to which they are driven in their efforts still to
bolster up their sinking cause. With the de-
livery back to the "insulted flag Of England of
Mason, Slidell and their secretaries. this hope Of
immediate English Intervention is taken away,
and Davis and his ruling confederates have now
no other consolation for their deluded followers
than the prospect of a recognition by England
and France, should the Confederate States in
this revolt continue to hold their present ground
month or two longer. They have never
counted upon achieving their own indepen-
dence. From the inception of this rebellion
down to this day the managing conspirators
have relied, not upon Southern gunpowdcr, but
upon European intervention for Southern cot
ton, as the guarantee of their deliverance.
Upon this expectation this rebellion was con-
trivei and put in motion, and herein lies our
greatest danger England is now moved by
two powerful motives Of hostility to the United
States. Her cotton factories are languishing for
wan. of the raw material, and she desires only
a plausible pretext to strike for it, in order
to strike at the same time for the destruction of
great and growing commercial rival. France,
also, is an extensive consumer of raw cotton,
and deals very largely and proftably in Vir-
ginia tobacco. We cannot, therefore, with any
safely, permit this rebellion to maintain its pre-
sent ground beyond the limitation of one year !;
for should it hold its own beyond that time,
England, and perhaps France may conclude
they have given us a sufficient term of grace,
and that the day has come for the recognition
of Southern confederacy. Assuming, there
fore, that in the settlement of the Trent ques-
ton, we have secured at least an armistice from
England and France, we must promptly enter
upon the practical work of putting down this
rebellion before the middle of April, or we
may lose our present advantages Of European
neutrality.
Gen. Mcclellan is evidently impressed with the
necessity of vigorous winter campaign, forts
advantages are ours and its disadvantages fall
upon the enemy. Hence our grand army of the
Potomac has not been put into winter quarters,
nor has our army in Kentucky or that in Mis-
souri, been permitted to indulge in the dispirit-
ing idea Of rusting in camp till spring. We are
gratified with these signs of activity, and we are
also glad to assure our readers that every
column, division and detachment of our army,
from Maryland to Missouri, are now thoroughly
armed excepting q regiment or so, here and
there) well equipped, under the direction Of
able officers, and that all, in the hands of Gen.
Mcclellan, are but the parts of harmonious
system of combinations. We are further graft
fed with the signs and evidences before us of
a decisive blow to the enemy before long,
which will be but the signal for a series Of de-
cisive blows along our whole inland and sea-
board military line Of twenty-five hundred miles.
Our soldiers, inspired with confidence and
enthusiasm, are awaiting their orders to ad-
vance. They have passed the depressing effects
Of the Bull run disaster and have learned how
son to believe, therefore, that the silence which
precedes the tornado is nearly ended, and that
very soon the country will have some conclu-
sive evidences of the grandeur Of our prepsra-
tons for general campaign from its splendid
and decisive results. A single decisive defeat
Of the rebels, upon a grand scals-a defeat
which II will be impossible to disguise--will do
more now, in the midst of the pressure of the
winter season, 10 bring them back to the Union
than will two or three such defeats, il delayed
till the return Of spring. The winter, which is
their weakness, is our strength, aud we cannot
and will not permit its advantages to slip
through our fingers.
The country reposes almost unlimited conf
dence in the military skill. activity, zeal and
discretion of Gen. Mcclellan. A universal
feeling Of relief has been impaired by the good
news that he is recovering from his late serious
Illness, and may soon be expected in the saddle
again. Perhaps within fortnight. with his
fresh and vigorous constitution, We may find
him taking an active part in the field in the full
hlment Of his grand designs. We hope this may
be so, and that before the expiration of the
present month We shall have such news to send
TO England as will not only establish her nsu-
trality upon an honest basis, but convince her
ministry and her unscrupulous aristocracy
that any further active sympathy or intsrven-
ton in any form in behalf Of JEFF. Davis and
his confcderates will be a scandal in the public
opinion Of Europe.
Meantime the two houses Of Congress should
constantly bear the important fact in mind that
the suppression Of this rebellion is costing us
directly at the rate Of six hundred millions Of
dollars year, and hundreds Of millions more
In the suspension of the productive industry Of
the Union; that Secretary Chase demands relief
from the hands Of Congress, in some general
reconstruction, upon . national basis, Of the