The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-12-19

not invaded by Federal force; while there
is not more than a single one that has been
taken from them by our armies, in which
an armed rebel force of any considerable
innumerable victories, and admitted almost
no defeats; but this is the actual result OF
the war up to the hour at which we write.
Their armies now in the field are far less |
numerous than ever before, and have been
gathered, to large extent, by species OF
conscription, which, for utter brutality, !
never had parallel. In the progress OF
these immense conquests which have re-
warded the valor of the Federal armies, the
Confederacy has lost almost its entire coast
line on the sea, and most of its strongest
fortresses, inland, and has been cut in two
from north to SOUTH and had most OF its
great interior means of communication
taken or destroyed. Vast regions have
been laid waste by successive campaigns
OF great armies; every vestige of public
works has been destroyed over the fairest
portions Of many States-towns, villages
and rural improvements have been con-
sumed by fire-the production Of the very
necessaries of life is no longer possible in a
degree equal to the demands of nature
and, amid the blank despair which is set
tling like pail over the face of the land
the white male population tit to replenish
the Confederate armies, no longer exists,
the armies, as they stand, constitute the
crimes and follies have wrought this
mournful devastation. To add to this great
| ruin, the Confederate Government, not
content to replenish their armies by vio-
lence. and to support them by plunder, so
managed the finances Of the country as to
produce universal bankruptcy; and so ar
ranged their currency and their sumptua-
ry laws, that the pay Of the soldier is worth
six cents on the dollar, and a pound Of
meat or grain is limited in price to about
one-haE the cost of producing it. Now, in
the midst Of such scene OF unutterable
discontinue, even while we weep oven
it, we must not allow ourselves to forget
| that the rebellion, out Of which all this
! woe has come, was the supreme and pre-
nediIated crime against all national in
dependence, all regulated liberty, and all
secure and permanent civilization. Nor
while We family depict it, not to rejoice
over or TO insult so much misery, but to
make our country see the certainty Of its
own triumph; must we forget that ever
since this war began, it has rested abso-
! lutely with the rebels. who began it with
i OUt cause 10 put an end tolt. The nation
mourned over its outbreak; it hesitated
long before it resolutely drew the sword;
nothing less, perhaps, than the preserva-
ton Of its own existence, would have car
ried it through the terrible work it has ac-
complished thus far. Ii she is true to her
self, it is only the direct interposition OF
God himself, that can prevent her from
achieving It thoroughly. When that IS
done, may God grant our people and our
rulers grace and wisdom to deal with our
, conquered brethren, not as they have
dealt with us, but as we would they
) should deal with US, if their case We're ours
, SO will our glory and cur safety be botf
complete.
+ While, from the beginning
: we never had a doubt of the redundan
2 ability Of the nation to crush the insurrec
ton, any more than we had of its supreme
+ duty TO do so; the events otthe whole inter
: Vening period since the war began, taker
e altogether, appear to us to have tended
!, constantly and directly to prove that th
: actual work was being steadily accomplish
L ed and now, as 1t seems TO us, the actua
y condition of the nation al this moment i
: such, as we have said of the Confederac.
j i'll reviewing the present state ofthe insur
: rection, that the failure Of the nation to ac
u eomplish the work throughly, is an even
! Justly to be considered impossible, accord
s ing to the ordinary course ofhuman events
e If this view Of pu bic affairs is just, it is tn
Il more important that it should be clearl
IS stated and understood, as thereby tn
IS secret treasons and conspiracies whicl
l. are perpetually agitating society in the 10y
is al States, may be seen TO be as gratultou
is as they are dangerous TO the authors {
: them, and may be abandoned, while th
y friends Of the Union in the revolted State
l. may take heart at the certain, anG, perhaps
le near approach OF deliverance. too long dc
$, laycd-and insurgents of every class ma
i be warned that all that is left to them, is
n make provision for their own safety. Th
y sooner, TOO, we can extirpate the unspeal
le able folly, which has done so much harm
b that this inSUreeetion is one of those revt
r lutions which, as the outcry is, never e
ut back; the better ii will be for those, WI
st learn al last, through the wreck they hay
Of made, and for all who have abetted then
q, that few revolutions, in the history
is mankind, have failed to go back, first {
is last-and that no insurrection ever wei
of forward.
a, First of all, in estimating the presel
81 ability Of the nation to crush the reEail
u: ing military power ofthe insurrectiOn, is II
ne question of men to fight its battles. Th
II, question, after all we have heretofo
~ written concerning it, needs only gener
H. explanation here. When the war bega
al az there were, according to the usual rate
he estimation. five and half millions,
ly possibly six millions, of fighting men
we the country ofwhom not above one mi
:. ,li lion and quarter, or possibly one millit
81! 81 only; could be fairly assigned to the pop
pe lation claimed by the insurgents. The
=. remained, therefore, to the nation ava
NJ able for The purposes Of the We
-. from four to five millions of fgh
re- Not more than a million and a quartz
~ perhaps not more than million Of thes
're have been called into the Federal servit
ssre So that there remain not less than thr
~ millions Of fighting men in the loyal Stat
,iV who have not taken up arms; while,
He iHiee our previous statements show, the numb
nis of lighting men who have not taken
10 10 arms as yet among the insurgents dc
~. not probably exceed one hundred tho,
,ol ,,o and. Allowing the whole number call
~ into the field, the number rendered inc
Isl .sn pable Of future service, and the number
pa veterans now under arms, TO be abe
" equal on each side, what is to be decid
iel is, the ability of the remaining one hu
VI ta dred thousand insurgents to fight the tn,
-. ~ millions Of remaining loyal men. If o
iss party were five times as strong as the Of
,.a ~, er, and the losses We're equal, as soon
We We they had lost million of men each, I
'ei stronger side retained four-fifths of
strength, while the weaker side had spe
led its entire strength. This is the proc'
the which has actually been going on-the
the suit towards which the parties have be
18th rapidly tending-the end which must /,