Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1862-08-08

rho Prospects OF the war Afitumetlcai-
~ stated.
Iftho Nieuds OF the Union would bat prose-
cute nno var With the same degree Of spirit aud
enerfy hsthe rebels, and with the same dclerm-
nntion toavsil themselves Of all the resources
within their reach, they might overwhelm and
smother the traitors by the mere force Of uum-
bers.
There are few, we think, who give themselves
the trouble to calculate how vast is the dispro-
portion between the rebel population aud that of
those PARTS Of the country which adhere TO the
Union, and from how small a number compare
lively the rebellion is obliged to draw itsarmics.
The great wonder is that they have held us at
bay so long when the odds are 50 vastly against
theip. a H
When we speak Of the white population OF
the slave statos VIC give il as amounting TO a
little more than eight millions. But from this
amount arc to be deducted the entire population
of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky
with tho western half OF Virginia and the vest
ern half of Tennessee, making altogether some
what over three millions and halt OF white pop
ulation. and leaving to the rebels scarcely more
than four millions six hundred as the basis Of
their army Ii would require a skill scarcely
short of magic to obtain from this population
the immense armies with which ruuor credits
the rebels--the mighty hosts which were said tc
have been gathered at orktown; the still might
i Whtchf were inOuJII 10 nave aSSclnDltu loi
4 the defense Of Richmond; the gfeat army under
Beauregard at Corinth; the seventy thousand
men under Stonewall jackson in thea valley oI
the Shenandoah; the army looming large in the
distance which keeps us from the assault o
! Charleston; the troops which haunted the march
of General Curtis In Arkansas, along with those
which are kept on foot to repel our advance al
different points of the Georgia and Florida
! coasts aud along the sea shore of Alabama ano
Texas, and the guerrilla parties which infest the
border states, composed of course of able-bodiec
men, or they would be incapable ofthe exploits
which are attributed to them.
A vast deal of what is rumored concerning
the strength of the rebel armies is most certain
| ly exaggeration; but these stories are the more
readily believed on account of the pertinacitl
witt which their leaders keep up the contest
ard ,he undiscouraged front which they con
tinue to show to the world.
/ Meanwhile we count nineteen millions as tb
! population of the Northern States from whicl
/ to recruit our armies To these uust be addet
the four loyal states Of the South, with half o
Virginia and half of Tennessee. They hav
already sent their soldiers into the held to hgh
for the Union They would swell the popula
ton of the great loyal region to between twen
ty-two and twenty-three millions--as near a
may be, five to one in comparison with the IN
habitants of the rebel district If they can rails
a hundred thousand men, we can meet then
with halfa million. If they can send into tn
field two hundred and fifty thousand men,
simple arithmetical operation will show that W.
! recruiting our army in the same proportion, ca
find a million and quarter. If they lose thei
soldiers in the same proportion that we do--an
! the records of the war show that their lossG
/ largely exceed Ours-we must in short time an
initiate not only their present army, but tn
whole generation from which their recruits al
drawn. We took the field with six hundre
Ill I .1te. I.
in the field and deaths in the hospitals aud b
disabilities from sickness and wounds, they an
reduced to three hundred thousand Iftho reb
els brought against us five hundred thousan
soldiers, they must be reduced by this time t
two hundred thousand. The whole militia c
! the region now in rebellion against us amount
! to but 5S5 100, according to the statistics of tn
/ United States Blue Book. Another such cam
paign, and that militia is swept from the face o
Z the earth-swept as clean as ever a whirlwint
swept a threshing floor. We could deal will
them az he rebels attempted to deal with th'
right flank of Mcclellan s army, when, knowing
that it was beyond the reach of reinforcements
they threw upon it one fresh detachment afte
annother, in the hope ofcutting ii in peaces by
repeated assaults. In that ease the assailant
were beaten back by the cool and steady cOur
age Of our troops, but it is manifest that if tn
onset had been once or twice more renewed ou
troops would have been destroyed. The des
| tructiOn of rebel hosts the absolute annlhllato
of all their population capable of bearing arms
is, therefore, as the cant phrase is, simply q
question of time; nor, if we carry on the wa
i with energy, can the time be far distant
Il IL will be said of course, that this is a cold
blooded calculation, and we acknowledge that
is so-but it is forced upon us by the necessit
of conforming our expectations to the manner
which the war has hitherto been conducted
There is yet one immense resource in resery
which we have never touched, and which woul
tend as effectually to the extirpation of the re
bellon as the raising of another half million so
ders. Deprive the Shareholders of their worl
people, and they stranded at once; wha
on dry ground is not more helpless. Sever I'll
laboring race at the South from the race WI
make war, and bring them over to our side, pit
them on their masters plantations, and arm thei
to defend the soil which they till, and the rebe
lion will be at its latest gasp; it viii no more
able to breathe than a rat in an exhausted r,
, ceiver The entire people of the free states al
beginning to see this in clearer and clear
I light, and the demand for putting it in exec,
ton will soon be 50 universal and so veheme
that the government drawn along by the irr
sistible current of public opinion, will be forci
! to yield Then the difficulties which perplex
: many of our statesman will vanish Whe
!, there is will there is a way.-N Y. Post