St. Mary's beacon., 1863-03-19
lFrsss she I'roviden,e Po>,.)
Tow LONG

business MIcn. asszt Win L i,usiiess pur
pose. How long will this war probably
lasi!-wheu shall We see the cndy Oar
! answer is worth no more than that of any
other person who kerps himself informed
as to what has been dons ani wha, is BE-
ing done: hut We yet sometimes venture
an answer in private way. and probably
1t will 10 no great harm if We print. this
morning. what We should certainly answer
1t the inquiry were made in our sanctum
or at some street corner.
SIX months hence tho war will be a. an
end. or will have assumed All entirely diff
f"rept shape. BY the removal Of Nc
Cirilan. We dtmoralized splendid army
and lost six months If rr.cious time
We cannst look to Virginia, in the mex,
tw" months. f"r victory which will he
worth to US the expenditure of a single
pound of powder. The Army of tue Po-
'omac, for all present practical uses, is \
" tcad cock in the pit"
! But there are other armies. and some of
these are active. General Banks has an
army. INT not n very large one. General
Grant. at Flcksburg. has much larger
army than Is generally supposed 1t l.
nearly as large as the army which. under
tiallcck. worked its way towards Corin,;,
at the rate Of thirteen inches rcr dsy FIR
thirty-six day.. IL probably larger than
the Army OF the Potomac. aud is supported
ey large nunter of gunbosts. VI. have
another army near Nashville. which is also
! very large. and has been for some weeks
making extensive Preparations for opera
! tons III Southern Tennessee. And fnaliy.
We have large army and an isn,ncus,. ma
val force at Port R"yal. whose purpose is
to attack Charleston aud Savannah ut a
very early day.
The last uamcI ar,nies and water fo-ccs
are at work They arc getting ready t.,
strike heavy and Important blows Their
purpose Is to Capture Fickshurg and Por,
Ai- 'son on the Mississippi, ami Charleston
aud Savannah on the scaboard They are
, hearty or quite read y to strike. In two
months they will have accomplished their
work, or al! h"pc Of accomplishing it will
have departed. II they triumph, and ,he
Administration will listen to the dictates
OF common sense. operations will again te
c"nIac"red III Virginia; Richmond NAV
possibly be captured; and if Mr. Lincolr.
" wise enough to prcsen. the olivc branch
OF peace, ana inyifc the Soati t. return tn
the Union just ne it was--a result which
We hardly dare hope for--we shall have
achieved all that We have ever hoped for
the serious crippling Of the war power
OF the South. and the inauguration Of
pullcy which may lead to a permanent,
restoration Of the Union.
If Mr.. Lincoln 1iscards this reasonable
P"iIry-deinands moro, and insists upon
lighting for it, France and England will
al once take advantage Of his mistake, and
tind au excuse for interference so that it
Will De necessary f"r US to stop active war
measures. without realizing many Of the
h"red-for fruits Of our victories. in order
to avoid foreign complications" of 6 more
serious character than hare yet threatened
us. l-ct us rcmcnbcr that even the .cri,
of splendid victories now ped fer will
not entirely crush the rebellion. We mu<i
Ven then be reasonable, or We .hall per-
celSe that We need larger armies than NC
needed bcf"rc. and shall ini it hard to
raise them; We shall perceive cur tr, a<ury
empty, and our currency almost wholly
worthless; aud We shall perceive Europe
determined to DO what sh2 has aimed to
do from the rginning--Ii>s"ly our ljninn,
and crush alike our pride. our power and
our ambition. Under such circumstances,
Mr. Greeley will say. - L., US make the
best peace VIC can, that We can secure
much better terms than wc might have
secured if we bad been hraien every
where " And Mr.. Grceley's couuscls will
be followed.
hut We may not succaell. either at
Ficksburg. er Port Hudson. or in South
ern Tennessee, or al Charleston, or a, Sa-
vannah- Then. We say. our cause. under
this Administration and lis blumicring
management, will be hopeless. We mus
open the Mississippi, or the heart of the
West is gone forever We must take
Charleston. since VIC have made such xx-
senslve preparations to take it. or We shall
lose faith in our ability to take s.yss,ius.
4 failure at either of these points will
reudcr our cause hopeless. II will be felt
at once III eur money market aad financial
men will sly that our currency is worth !
less. In our opinion, the G.vcrnnrnt
will .hen pray f,r such an Interference by
France or England. or both as will save
Il from utter aurihIls:iuu
Whatever of either Of these prediction. /,
We may realize. will BE-. uPen H. before six
months have gone By. and in neither "f
The events We have supposed can We hope
TO be ablc at the end Of ,ha, time tn CON
vince oarsclvrs that We can push much
further forward in war measures If We
discard compronliss and peace, We shall be-
Confronted, either by victoriou. South.
or by exasprra,ed aud interested Europe.
without the ability, after having blunIered
through two years Of di>a5l.ya> var. to