The Portland daily press., 1863-08-15

with which they were held proves their inn
portance to the Confederacy. Pemberton adj
mits that the attempt to hold Vlcksburg cost
$4,000 men. The opening OF the Mississippi
sewers about equally the area of the rebellion,
and BY the concession of the rebels themselves,
is the most damaging blow they have received.
We are henceforth to rapidly execute the pol
icy of great Eastern General, "Divide and
conquer Within the last month we have
lessened the enemy's force by 81 900 men 800
guns, and 10000 stand of arms. Through
these defeats and losses, the enemy has lost
prestige and heart; he begins to see the hand
writing on the wall, and his knees smite to-
gethcr. The Richmond Enquirer, in an edito-
rial, gloomily says, "The fall of Vicksburg,
the retreat Of Bragg, the repulse Of Lee, and
the advance on Charleston, are all serious dis
asters--the most serious that have attended
our arms since the beginning Of the war;"
After long and anxious period of heroic
endurance, the nation at last begins TO feel
the thrill Of triumph and her minute guns,
Ginning bells, and universal thanksgiving,
fittingly give 1t expression.
2 These glorious victories may well awak-
en- our gratitude by the stimulant they impart
to public confidence in the Administration.
That mistakes have been made in the conduct
Of this war may be quit apparent; that none
should have been made would be a marvel,
and without precedent. When the history
of this war shall have been fully written, no
intelligent American viii blush TO compare
the efficiency CT the Federal Government with
that OF any other government in the conduct
Of its wars. Napier's account of the Peninsula
war shows that the stupid blunders of the En-
glish government, its absurd and contradicto-
ry orders, its absolute ignorance of the ele-
mentary principles OF all war, well nigh cost
failure Of the campaign.
du1if that I'M lar iunf1arS hay baan m adp
by our Government yet there is no part OF
the history Of this war, which will strike its
future reader with such surprise, as the ener-
gy displayed by our government, IN shaking
off the swarms of willy traitors which infested
every department ut Washington, retaining
their places under the guise of loyalty that
they might act AS spies for the rebel army
and in rising from comparative nothingness
In its military status to crush, in so brief
PERIOD this monstrous rebellion. Still, as ia
all other wars, the popular expectation has
not been met. War; says one, Is always
entered upon amidst vast deal OF wild en-
thusiasm which is utterly unreasonable. The
popular idea OF war is a speedy and decisive
victory and an immediate occupation OF the
enemy's capital
Hence from the moment our capital was
made secure, +" On to Richmond" was our bat
lie cry, until our defeats iairly turned it into
ridicule. The tendency of this disappoint-
ment has been to throw the whole blame up
on the Government Aud northern traitors,
too cowardly to appear IL the full garb OF
their treason, or TO 60 South where they be-
long, have eagerly seized upon this irritation
OF the public mind, to weaken confidence in the
Administration, TO excite prejudice and call out
political action against il, TO discourage en-
listments, and to prevent the execution of the
DRAFT The animus of these Vaccinations cul-
minated, and bore its legitimate fruit, in the
recent bloody riot Of New York.
It Is cheering now 10 witness turn in
events wherein our government is coming out
OF the storm like noble ship, SCARED and
weather-5eaten, but strong and invincibe,
without rceang sail or changing her bear
ings. The country begins to perceive that the
Administration, despite its mishaps, has been
fully grasping this gigantic treason, and max
ing adequate preparation to confront and crush
t.
That this conviction has been greatly ex-
tended and decpcned by recent victories, is
obvious, in the higher tone of national pride
with which the loyal now speak OF their gov
eminent, and in the lily concealed chagrin of
rebel sympathies in our midst.
3. Further, should We ctIer to-day our
thanks to the Most High for recent victories,
as indicating The observation-disclosures of Repub-
lican principles. IL may be said those princi-
Piles are sti on trial; buta staggering blow
would it be too strong to say. death bIow--has
been given 10 the treason which assails them.
With It's aorta parted by the opening of the
Mississippi, how can the onfederacy escape
growing perpetualy weaker until its blood
Is exhausted and life is extinct
Whence are TO come cnnscripts TO repair
the last months' loss of 900 men? When
Grant sat down before Vicksburg, Davis said,
In an intercepted letter, To Pemberton, "Hold
A
thousand men, Why, during that forty-one
days, did he not rally a. force that could at
least trouble Grant in his seige operations? II
troops could not be raised 10 enable Johnston
to prevent the great source OF supplies to the
confederacy from being cut off. for what other
object can any considerable additions be made
to the rebel army.
And what is the prospect for supplies, when
the plantations are being stripped OF laborers
IS fast as Rosecrans and Grants triumphant
armies sweep in upon the interior of rebel
dom, and when, by the fall Of Charleston, the
main channel for running the blockade shall
be closed? What Is TO be thought of its
financial basis, when gold is worth twelve
hundred per centum In Confederate notesb
What now is to be said of the North? Why,
simply, that SO slight has been the drain OF
this war upon her, that her industrial interests
do not seem 10 know there is war except by
quickened exchanges and larger profits, gold
bringing premium OF but q cents, and the
credit OF the nation. with sudden debt of
thousand millions, unimpaired in the foreign
market.
Does this look like failure of republican,
ism? And yet our transatlantic brethren have
been assuring US for the last quarter of a
century, that when the final issue should come,
- come 1t would, between slavery and free.
dom, we should find our government TO be
rope of sand. And during this struggle, they,
forsooth. have seen in the capture of every
picket-guard OF the Union army, in the whine
Of every croaker, and in every falsehood be-
gotten OF the hybrid Confederacy for their
benefit, iulflIment Of their prediction. How
far the wish has been father to the thought,
postcrity will judge.
But ours Is the luxury OF seeing in the re-
cent successes OF our arms the beginning Of
the end OF q struggle which shall demonstrate
for all nations, and for all future ages, the
practicability of republican liberty. We re-
joice in the first CLEANS of morning light as
the presage of noontide splendors; SO do we
give praise TO -day, for the dawning light Of a
respondent day, when our glorious ensign
shall float over every State of this Union, and
the Magma Charta of our liberties shall be ac-
knowledged by the world as sound and indis-
tructable.
4th. Still further are we thankful for these
victories as the award of Providence to our
patriotic soldiers. We have seen them by
hundreds of thousands, start up at their coun-
try's call, from the quiet pursuit of civic life,
from the farm, the workshop, the store, the
counting-room, the academy, the college, the
theological school, from all the learned proes--
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